was nothing short of impudence
on Jack's part to intrude himself upon the town and upon his family. It
was with a slight sneer that William replied to his brother's long
speech by ejaculating:--

"Well, I like your nerve! You come back drunk just when the community
had begun to forget you, and wander into the last house in the world
where you ought to show yourself. Your being drunk doesn't excuse you.
Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Jack smiled ironically.

"Suppose you climb off your high horse for a little bit. If I have to
get a permit from my only brother to come back to the town where I was
born, things have come to a nice pass. Better cut all that out."

"You're certainly a past-master at making a mess of things," William
continued. "Your coming back that way fits neatly into your departure.
You needn't think people have forgotten that you ran off with another
man's wife. And your coming back right now, just when the Montgomerys
had buried the hatchet, was calculated with the Devil's own mind."

"So that's the tune, is it?" said Jack, stretching his arms upon the
table and clasping his fingers to subdue their nervous twitchings.

"That's just the tune! This town isn't big enough to hold you and the
rest of us. You've cost me a lot of money first and last. You made it
necessary for us to pull away from Amzi and start all over again, and
there was a prejudice against me from the start that I've just about
lived down."

Jack grinned unpleasantly.

"Oh, the bank hasn't been terribly prosperous, then!"

William blinked at the thrust. He had given the conversation an
unfortunate turn, and he sought uncomfortably for another line of
attack. Jack unwittingly opened the way for him.

"You were the good boy of the family and used to be a pillar in the
church. I have a distinct though melancholy impression that when I took
myself hence you were passing the basket in Center Church every Sunday
morning. I don't recall that I ever _saw_ you do it, but it was a
matter of common knowledge in this town, Will, that you did that very
thing. And being a Christian, just how do you square your effusive
brotherly welcome with the gospel? The only reason God makes sinners is
to give 'em a chance to repent. Without repentance what do you suppose
would become of your churches anyhow?"

"I don't see any repentance in you; and I want to know right now what
you've done with that woman?"

Jack blinked, then smiled an