the men, I made up my mind that he was elderly, hard up, and not over scrupulous; the other voice was that of a gentleman, musical and yet pronounced, and not easily forgotten, as you see, sir. The first words I heard aroused me and convinced me it was worth while to listen. They were uttered by the gentleman.’ ‘You come to me with such a dirty piece of business! What right have you to suppose I would hearken to you for an instant!’ ‘The right,’ returned the other, ‘of knowing you have not been above doing dirty work in your life time.’ The partition creaked at that, as though one of the two had started forward, but I didn’t hear any reply made to this strange accusation. ‘Do you think,’ the same voice went on, ‘that I do not know where the five thousand dollars came from which you gave me for that first speculation? I knew it when I took it, and if I hadn’t been sure the operation would turn out fortunately, you would never have been the man you are today. It came out of funds entrusted to you, and was not the gift of a relative as you would have made me believe.’ ‘Good heaven!’ exclaimed the other, after a silence that was very expressive just then and there, ‘and you let me—’ ‘Oh we won’t go into that,’ interrupted the less cultivated voice. ‘All you wanted was a start, to make you the successful man you have since become. I never worried much about morals, and I don’t worry about them now, only when you say you won’t do a thing likely to make my fortune, just because it is not entirely free from reproach, I say, remember what I know about you, and don’t talk virtue to me.’
“ ‘I am rightly punished,’ came from the other, in a tone that proved him to be a man more ready to do a wrong thing than to face the accusation of it. ‘If I ever did what you suppose, the repentance that has embittered all my success, and the position in which you have this day placed me, is surely an ample atonement.’ ‘Will you do what I request?’ inquired the other, giving little heed to this expression of misery, of which I on the contrary took special heed. ‘No,’ was the energetic reply; ‘because I am not spotless it is no sign that I will wade into filth. I will give you money as I have done scores of times before, but I will lend my