"

"I can't stand for it," he grumbled, chewing at the unlighted cigar which
was his Saturday night indulgence. "And if I could, the customers
wouldn't. I suppose as many as a dozen women have been to me in the last
few days. They say they can't afford to be watchin' the back door every
time you come 'round with the groceries. You see how it is."

I saw; but I was still foolish enough to try to stem the pitiless tide.

"Would it make any difference if I were to say that I was as innocent of
the crime for which I was convicted as any of these frightened women?" I
suggested.

"They all say that," was the colorless retort. "The point is, Weyburn,
that you was convicted. There ain't no gettin' 'round that. You've worn
the stripes, and you'll just have to make up your mind to live it down
before you can expect people to forget it."

If I hadn't been the wretched victim of this paradox it might have
provoked a smile.

"How am I ever going to live it down, Mr. Bucks, if nobody will give me a
chance?" I asked.

"I know," he agreed readily enough. "But I'm losin' money here, every
day, as it is, and I can't afford to make experiments. I'm sorry for
you, honestly, Weyburn; but you see how it is."

"Yes, I see," I returned. "You think I ought to be given a chance, but
you prefer to have somebody else give it to me. I don't blame you.
Perhaps under similar conditions I'd do the same thing myself. Pay me
and I'll disappear."

He did pay me, and tried to give me two dollars more than the agreed
weekly wage, generously putting it upon the ground of the lack of notice.
I shall always be glad that I still had pride enough left to refuse the
charity. Even at this early twisting of the thumb-screws I was beginning
to realize that self-respect would be the first thing to go by the board,
and the fight to save it was almost instinctive.

Before leaving Bucks I tried to find out how he had learned my story;
this though I was definitely charging the exposure to the town marshal as
being the only person who could have spread it abroad. To my surprise,
the grocer defended the marshal promptly and warmly.

"That shows how little you know Cal Giddings," he retorted. "He's the
last man on top of earth to go 'round givin' you a black eye of that
sort."

"May I ask what reason you have for thinking so?" I inquired.

"Sure you may. I've known Cal ever since we was little kids together.
I've seen him every day this week