eliberately. "Six
weeks ago Tappington sat in that chair where you are sitting now, a
convicted hypocrite and thief. Luckily for him, although his guilt was
plain, and the whole secret of his double life revealed to me, a sum of
money advanced in pity by one of his gambling confederates had made his
accounts good and saved him from suspicion in the eyes of his
fellow-clerks and my partners. At first he tried to fight me on that
point; then he blustered and said his mother could have refunded the
money; and asked me what was a paltry five thousand dollars! I told
him, Mr. Bly, that it might be five years of his youth in state prison;
that it might be five years of sorrow and shame for his mother and
sister; that it might be an everlasting stain on the name of his dead
father--my friend. He talked of killing himself: I told him he was a
cowardly fool. He asked me to give him up to the authorities: I told
him I intended to take the law in my own hands and give him another
chance; and then he broke down. I transferred him that very day,
without giving him time to communicate with anybody, to our branch
office at Portland, with a letter explaining his position to our agent,
and the injunction that for six months he should be under strict
surveillance. I myself undertook to explain his sudden departure to
Mrs. Brooks, and obliged him to write to her from time to time." He
paused, and then continued: "So far I believe my plan has been
successful: the secret has been kept; he has broken with the evil
associates that ruined him here--to the best of my knowledge he has had
no communication with them since; even a certain woman here who shared
his vicious hidden life has abandoned him."

"Are you sure?" asked Herbert involuntarily, as he recalled his
mysterious visitor.

"I believe the Vigilance Committee has considered it a public duty to
deport her and her confederates beyond the State," returned Carstone
dryly.

Another idea flashed upon Herbert. "And the gambler who advanced the
money to save Tappington?" he said breathlessly.

"Wasn't such a hound as the rest of his kind, if report says true,"
answered Carstone. "He was well known here as George
Dornton--Gentleman George--a man capable of better things. But he was
before your time, Mr. Bly--YOU don't know him."

Herbert didn't deem it a felicitous moment to correct his employer, and
Mr. Carstone continued: "I have now told you what I thought it was my
duty t