ntirely new start, when a little help on my part will bring
your plans to completion?"

She saw the shadow of assent in his eyes.

"How much do you need?" she asked swiftly.

"I must take up the notes," he explained. "I must pay the men. I may
need something on the stock market. If I go in on this thing, I'm going
in for keeps. I'll get after those fellows who have been swindling
Wallace. Say a hundred thousand dollars."

"Why, it's nothing," she cried.

"I'm glad you think so," he replied grimly.

She ran to her dainty escritoire, where she scribbled eagerly for a few
moments.

"There," she cried, her eyes shining, "there is my check book all signed
in blank. I'll see that the money is there."

Thorpe took the book, staring at it with sightless eyes. Hilda, perched
on the arm of his chair, watched his face closely, as later became her
habit of interpretation.

"What is it?" she asked.

Thorpe looked up with a pitiful little smile that seemed to beg
indulgence for what he was about to say.

"I was just thinking, dear. I used to imagine I was a strong man, yet
see how little my best efforts amount to. I have put myself into seven
years of the hardest labor, working like ten men in order to succeed. I
have foreseen all that mortal could foresee. I have always thought, and
think now, that a man is no man unless he works out the sort of success
for which he is fitted. I have done fairly well until the crises came.
Then I have been absolutely powerless, and if left to myself, I would
have failed. At the times when a really strong man would have used
effectively the strength he had been training, I have fallen back
miserably on outer aid. Three times my affairs have become critical.
In the crises I have been saved, first by a mere boy; then by an old
illiterate man; now by a weak woman!"

She heard him through in silence.

"Harry," she said soberly when he had quite finished, "I agree with you
that God meant the strong man to succeed; that without success the man
hasn't fulfilled his reason for being. But, Harry, ARE YOU QUITE SURE
GOD MEANT HIM TO SUCCEED ALONE?"

The dusk fell through the little room. Out in the hallway a tall clock
ticked solemnly. A noiseless servant appeared in the doorway to light
the lamps, but was silently motioned away.

"I had not thought of that," said Thorpe at last.

"You men are so selfish," went on Hilda. "You would take everything from
us. Why can't you leave us the poor l