er, between the ebb of breakfast and
before the flow of the preparation for the midday meal. He could not
have his interview with Kitty in that dreary waste of reversed chairs
and bare trestlelike tables, and she was possibly engaged in her
household duties. But Miss Kitty had already seen him cross the road,
and had lounged into the dining-room with an artfully simulated air of
casually examining it. At the unexpected vision of his hopes, arrayed in
the sweetest and freshest of rosebud-sprigged print, his heart faltered.
Then, partly with the desperation of a timid man, and partly through
the working of a half-formed resolution, he met her bright smile with
a simple inquiry for her father. Miss Kitty bit her pretty lip, smiled
slightly, and preceded him with great formality to the office. Opening
the door, without raising her lashes to either her father or the
visitor, she said, with a mischievous accenting of the professional
manner, "Mr. Barker to see you on business," and tripped sweetly away.

And this slight incident precipitated the crisis. For Barker instantly
made up his mind that he must purchase the next claim for his partners
of this man Carter, and that he would be obliged to confide to him the
details of his good fortune, and as a proof of his sincerity and his
ability to pay for it, he did so bluntly. Carter was a shrewd business
man, and the well-known simplicity of Barker was a proof of his
truthfulness, to say nothing of the shares that were shown to him. His
selling price for his claim had been two hundred dollars, but here was
a rich customer who, from a mere foolish sentiment, would be no doubt
willing to pay more. He hesitated with a bland but superior smile. "Ah,
that was my price at my last offer, Mr. Barker," he said suavely; "but,
you see, things are going up since then."

The keenest duplicity is apt to fail before absolute simplicity. Barker,
thoroughly believing him, and already a little frightened at his own
presumption--not for the amount of the money involved, but from the
possibility of his partners refusing his gift utterly--quickly took
advantage of this LOCUS PENITENTIAE. "No matter, then," he said
hurriedly; "perhaps I had better consult my partners first; in fact,"
he added, with a gratuitous truthfulness all his own, "I hardly know
whether they will take it of me, so I think I'll wait."

Carter was staggered; this would clearly not do! He recovered himself
with an insinuating smi