s Felicia listening intently, a curious
expression on her face, Peter grave and silent, his gaze now on the boy,
now on the hearth-rug on which he stood. Only once did a flash illumine
his countenance; that was when Jack reached that part of his narrative
which told of the denunciation he had flung in his uncle's face
concerning the methods by which poor Gilbert had been ruined.

"And you dared tell your uncle that, you young firebrand?"

"Yes, Mr. Grayson, I had to; what else could I say? Don't you think it
cruel to cheat like that?"

"And what did he say?" asked Peter.

"He would not listen--he swore at me--told me--well, he ordered me out
of the room and had the lights put out."

"And it served you right, you young dog! Well, upon my word! Here you
are without a dollar in the world except what your uncle pays you, and
you fly off at a tangent and insult him in his own house--and you his
guest, remember. Well! Well! What are we coming to? Felicia, did you
ever hear of such a performance?"

Miss Felicia made no answer. She knew from her brother's tone that there
was not a drop of bitterness in any one of the words that fell from his
lips; she had heard him talk that way dozens of times before, when he
was casting about for some means of letting the culprit down the easier.
She even detected a slight wrinkling of the corners of his mouth as the
denunciation rolled out.

Not so Jack: To him the end of the world had come. Peter was his last
resort--that one so good and so clear-headed had not flared up at
once over the villainy was the severest blow of all. Perhaps he WAS
a firebrand; perhaps, after all, it was none of his business;
perhaps--perhaps--now that Ruth would not blame him, knew nothing, in
fact, of the disgraceful episode, it would have been better for him to
have ignored the whole matter and taken Garry's advice.

"Then I have done wrong again, Mr. Grayson?" he said at last, in so
pleading a tone that even Miss Felicia's reserve was on the point of
giving away.

"Yes, in the manner in which you acted. Your father wouldn't have lost
his temper and called people names. Gentlemen, my dear boy, don't do
that sort of thing. They make up their minds about what they want to
do and then do it quietly, and, let me say, with a certain amount of
courtesy."

"Then, what must I do?" All the fight was out of the lad now.

"Why, go back to your desk in the office and your very delightful suite
of rooms at your