is
to be done to right the wrong I have committed. I am sure I shall
rapidly recover. Were you with Bowman this morning?"

"Yes, we went out in the woods together. I had a few New York papers
which he read with interest."

"Have you them with you?" asked Sinclair eagerly. "You don't know how I
hunger for home news."

"Yes, I brought them along, as I thought you might like to read them."

"I will read them after you are gone. Now we will converse."

"Have you a family?" asked Fred.

"I am not a married man but I have a mother," answered Sinclair, his
eyes filling.

"Does she know----"

"Of my disgrace? No, I was obliged to tell a falsehood and represent
that I was going to Canada on business. I have been in constant dread
that my crime would get into the papers and she would hear it. Poor
mother! I believe that it would kill her!"

"You didn't think of that when you took the bonds?"

"I thought of nothing. Bowman gave me no time to think. What I did was
done on the impulse of the moment without consideration. Oh, if I had
only stopped to think!" he concluded with a sigh.

For Fred it was a great moral lesson. He was honest by nature, but
there is no one who cannot be strengthened against temptation. The sum
taken by Sinclair was large, but it had not made him happy. Probably he
had never been more miserable than in the interval that had elapsed
since his theft. Judging between him and Bowman. Fred felt sure that it
was Sinclair who had been weak, and Bowman who had been wicked. Now his
only hope was to recover his lost position, to get back to where he
stood when he yielded to temptation and robbed a kind and considerate
employer.

"Where is Bowman this afternoon?" asked Sinclair.

"He told me he was going to ride to Hyacinth with the landlord. He
seems to find time hanging heavy on his hands."

"He is much better off than I am. It is bad enough to be sick but when
to this is added a burden of remorse, you can imagine that my position
is not enviable."

At five o'clock Fred rose from his chair and took his hat.

"I must be going," he said. "We have supper at the hotel at six, and I
may as well be punctual."

"Will you call again?" asked Sinclair, eagerly.

"Yes, but perhaps I had better not spend too much time with you. It may
give rise to suspicions on the part of your partner."

"Don't call him my partner! I don't want to admit any connection
between us. There has been a connection, it is true