thew?"

"Stay here!--for how long?" cried the colonel in astonishment, his
glance following Harry as he left the room in obedience to his uncle's
request.

"Well, perhaps for the balance of the winter."

"In this hole?" His voice had grown stronger.

"Certainly, why not?" replied St. George simply, moving his chair so
that his guest might see him the better. "My servants are taking care of
me. I can pay my way here, and it's about the only place in which I can
pay it, and I want to tell you frankly, Talbot, that I am very happy to
be here--am very glad, really, to get such a place. No one could be more
devoted than my Todd and Jemima--I shall never forget their kindness."

"But you're not a pauper?" cried the colonel in some heat.

"That was what you were once good enough to call me--the last time
we met. The only change is that then I owed Pawson and that now I owe
Todd," he replied, trying to repress a smile, as if the humor of the
situation would overcome him if he was not careful. "Thank you very
much, Talbot--and I mean every word of it--but I'll stay where I am, at
least for the present."

"But the bank is on its legs again," rebounded the colonel, ignoring all
reference to the past, his voice gaining in volume.

"So am I," laughed St. George, tapping his lean thighs with his
transparent fingers--"on a very shaky pair of legs--so shaky that I
shall have to go to bed again pretty soon."

"But you're coming out all right, St. George!" Rutter had squared
himself in his chair and was now looking straight at his host. "Gorsuch
has written you half a dozen letters about it and not a word from you
in reply. Now I see why. But all that will come out in time, I tell you.
You're not going to stay here for an hour longer." His old personality
was beginning to assert itself.

"The future doesn't interest me, Talbot," smiled St. George in perfect
good humor. "In my experience my future has always been worse than my
past."

"But that is no reason why you shouldn't go home with me now and let us
take care of you," Rutter cried in a still more positive tone. "Annie
will be delighted. Stay a month with me--stay a year. After what I owe
you, St. George, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

"You have already done it, Talbot--every obligation is wiped out,"
rejoined St. George in a satisfied tone.

"How?"

"By coming here and asking Harry's pardon--that is more to me than all
the things I have ever possessed," a