uld be, isn't it?
So that is safe." She laughed lightly.

Then she became very serious again. "It doesn't really make any
difference to you, Mr. Ames," she said, "whether the cotton schedule
is passed or not. You still have your millions--oh, so much more
than you will ever know what to do with! But Mr. Wales, he has his
wife and his babies and his good reputation--would you rob him of
those priceless treasures, just to make a few dollars more for
yourself?--dollars that you can't spend, and that you won't let
others have?"

During the girl's quiet talk Ames was regaining his self-control. When
she concluded he turned to Haynerd. "Miss Carmen can step out into the
balcony. You and I will arrange this matter together," he said.

Carmen moved toward the door.

"Now," said Ames significantly, and in a low voice, "what's your
price?"

Instantly the girl turned back and threw herself between the two men.
"He is not for sale!" she cried, her eyes flashing as she confronted
Ames.

"Then, by God!" shouted Ames, who had lost himself completely, "I will
crush him like a dirty spider! And you, I'll drag you through the
gutters and make your name a synonym of all that is vile in
womanhood!"

Carmen stepped quietly to the elevator and pressed the signal button.

"You shall not leave this house!" cried the enraged Ames, starting
toward her. "Or you'll go under arrest!"

The girl drew herself up with splendid dignity, and faced him
fearlessly. "We _shall_ leave your house, and now, Mr. Ames!" she
said. "You and that for which you stand can not touch us! The carnal
mind is back of you! Omnipotent God is with us!"

She moved away from him, then turned and stood for a moment, flashing,
sparkling, radiant with a power which he could not comprehend. "You
know not what you do. You are blinded and deceived by human lust and
greed. But the god you so ignorantly worship now will some day totter
and fall upon you. Then you will awake, and you will see your present
life as a horrid dream."

The elevator appeared. Carmen and the dazed Haynerd stepped quickly
into it and descended without opposition to the lower floor. A few
moments later they were again in the street and hurrying to the
nearest car line.

"Girlie," said Haynerd, mopping the perspiration from his brow, "we're
in for it now--and I shall be crushed! But you--I think your God will
save you."

Carmen took his hand. "His arm is not shortened," she murmured, "that
He