ot to leave
his dear friends a----"

Again her voice was muffled in the folds of the handkerchief, and
Colonel Lawton took advantage of the temporary lull to put in a word.

"He wasn't _liberal_," he said, rising, "but for God's sake, Madam,
think what he ought to have done for _me_ after my patiently listening
to his plans for twenty years! Mind, I'm not complaining, but what have
I got out of it? A Bible!"

"Oh, you've feathered _your_ nest, Colonel!" cried Mrs. Batholommey,
recovering somewhat.

"I never came here," retorted Colonel Lawton spitefully, "that _you_
weren't begging!"

"See here, Lawton," the clergyman interrupted truculently, "don't forget
who you are speaking to!"

Colonel Lawton waved his hand patronisingly at the clergyman.

"That's all right, Parson. I know who I'm speaking to. We're all in the
same boat--one's as good as another--when we're all up against a thing
like this. If anything, you two are worse than I am, for you stand for
better things. What would your congregation think of either of you if
they could look into your hearts this moment and see 'em as they
_really_ are?"

"Really are--really are!" cried Mrs. Batholommey. "I'm not ashamed to
have any one see my heart as it really is!"

(And Mrs. Batholommey was telling the truth, for she was a good woman at
heart, and it was not her fault that she had a human desire for this
world's goods for those she loved, for the church, and for herself.)

Here Frederik, who had watched the scene with much amusement at first,
came forward through the increasing gloom. He was getting tired of the
childish bickering.

"Well, well, well, I'm disgusted," he said, "when I see such
heartlessness! He was putty in all your hands."

"Oh, you can defend his memory. _You_ got the money!" cried Mrs.
Batholommey, with asperity. "He liked flattery and you gave him what he
wanted and you gave him plenty of it."

"Why not?" retorted Frederik calmly, getting a cigarette out of his
case. "The rest of you were at the same thing--yes?"

He struck a match and lighted his cigarette as he continued in a
disagreeable tone:

"And I had the pleasure of watching him hand out the money that belonged
to me--to _me_," he repeated. "My money! What business had he to be
generous with my money?"

Still talking, Frederik sat down at the desk.

"If he'd lived much longer, I'd have been a pauper. It's a lucky thing
for me he di----"

Frederik had the grace to leav