st, or then some other
woman's men kindred. Every woman is a conservative in this, and Mrs.
Hilary made up her mind to stop the talk between her son and husband,
because she felt Matt to be doubly wrong.

But when she spoke, her husband roared at her, "Don't interrupt, Sarah!"
and then he roared at Matt, "I tell you that the individual is not
concerned in the matter! I tell you that it is the interest, the
necessity of the community to punish A for his sins without regard to B,
and for my part, I shall leave no stone unturned till we have found
Northwick, dead or alive; and if he is alive, I shall spare no effort to
have him brought to trial, conviction and punishment." He shouted these
words out, and thumped the breakfast table so that the spoons clattered
in the cups, and Mrs. Hilary could hardly hear what Patrick was saying
just inside the door.

"To see Mr. Hilary? A lady? Did she send her card?"

"She wouldn't give her name, ma'am; she said she didn't wish to, ma'am.
She wished to see Mr. Hilary just a moment in the reception-room."

Hilary was leaning forward to give the table another bang with his fist,
but his wife succeeded in stopping him, with a repetition of Patrick's
message.

"I won't see her," he answered. "It's probably a woman reporter. They're
in our very bread trough. I tell you," he went on to Matt, "there are
claims upon you as a citizen, as a social factor, which annul all your
sentimental obligations to B as a brother. God bless my soul! Isn't C a
brother, too, and all the rest of the alphabet? If A robs the other
letters, then let B take a lesson from the wholesome fact that A's
little game has landed him in jail."

"Oh, I admit that the A's had better suffer for their sins; but I doubt
if the punishment which a man gets against his will is the right kind of
suffering. If this man had come forward voluntarily, and offered to bear
the penalty he had risked by his misdeed, it would have been a good
thing for himself and for everybody else; it would have been a real
warning. But he ran away."

"And so he ought to be allowed to stay away! You are a pretty Dogberry
come to judgment! You would convict a thief by letting him steal out of
your company."

"It seems to me that's what you did, father. And I think you did right,
as I've told you."

"What _I_ did?" shouted Hilary. "No, sir, I did nothing of the kind! I
gave him a chance to make himself an honest man--"

"My dear," said Mrs. Hilar