e
matter to its core. "Jake told me yesterday."

"I was going to pay him; he's spoken about it several times--dunned me,
sir, in point of fact, off and on for several years. But he knew I was
good for it. And now the little coward runs off up to Chicago to attend
the convention and sues me while he's gone. That's what I hate."
Hendricks could see that the object of the colonel's visit was still on
his mind, and so he left the way open for the colonel to talk. "You know
how Mrs. Culpepper feels and how Molly feels--disgraced, sir,
humiliated, shamed, to be exact, sir, in front of the whole town. What
would you do, Robert? What can a man do in a time like this--I ask you,
what can he do?"

"Well, I'd pay him, Colonel, if I were you," ventured the younger man.

The colonel straightened up and glared at Hendricks and exclaimed:
"Bob Hendricks, do you think, sir, that Martin Culpepper would rest
for a minute, while he had a dollar to his name, or a rag on his back,
under the imputation of not paying a debt like that? It is paid,
sir,--settled in full this morning, sir. But what am I going to do
about him, sir--the contemptible scamp who publicly sued his own
wife's father? That's what I came to you for, Robert. What am I going
to do?"

"It'll be forgotten in a week, Colonel--I wouldn't worry about it,"
answered Hendricks. "We all have those little unpleasantnesses."

The colonel was silent for a time, and then he said: "Bob--" turning
his eyes to meet Hendricks' for the first time during their
meeting--"that scoundrel said to me yesterday morning before leaving,
'If I hadn't the misfortune of being your son-in-law, you wouldn't
have the honour of owing me this money.' Then he sneered at me--you
know the supercilious way he has, the damn miserable hound-pup way he
has of grinning at you,--and says, 'I regarded it as a loan, even
though you seemed to regard it as a bargain.' And he whirled and left
me." The colonel's voice broke as he added: "In God's name, Bob, tell
me--did I sell Molly? You know--you can tell me."

The colonel was on his feet, standing before Hendricks, with, his
hands stretched toward the younger man. Hendricks did not reply at
once, and the colonel broke forth: "Bob Hendricks, why did you and my
little girl quarrel? Did she break it or did you? Did I sell her, Bob,
did I sell my little girl?" He slipped back into the chair and for a
moment hid his face, and shook with a great sob, then pulled himsel