nts!"

"Then, you'll have to keep it up, darling. Next time you go to see him,
borrow a dress from your maid."

"Dick, your grandfather talked of getting you out of your scrape. What
does that mean? If he pays the seven thousand dollars, will it get you
off?"

"It is not a question of money, now. It is a question of the
penitentiary, darling. And I don't see that it is fair to hold you to any
pledges. I've got to go through with this business. You couldn't marry an
ex-convict."

"Dick, if you are not guilty, if you have done no wrong, you are
shielding someone else who has." Dora arose to her feet impatiently, and
stood looking down almost angrily.

"Dora, Dora, don't force it out of me!" he pleaded. "If you think a
little, you'll understand."

"I have thought. I can understand nothing. They told me that your
mother's checks--"

Even as she spoke, she understood. The knowledge flashed from brain to
brain.

"Oh, Dick--your mother!--Mrs. Swinton! Oh!"

"Grandfather drove her to it, Dora. You mustn't be hard on her."

"And she let them accuse you--her son--when you were supposed to have
died gloriously--oh, horrible!"

"Ah, that's the worst of being a newspaper hero. The news that I'm home
has got abroad somehow, and those journalist fellows are beginning to
write me up again. I wish they'd leave me alone. They make things so
hard."

"Dick, you're not going to ruin your whole career, and blacken your
reputation, because your mother hasn't the courage to stand by her
wickedness."

"It wasn't the sort of thing you'd do, Dora, I know. But mother's
different. Never had any head for money, and didn't know what she was
doing. She looked upon grandfather's money as hers and mine."

"But when they thought you were dead--oh, horrible. It was infamous!"

"Dora, Dora, you promised to be patient."

"Does your father know? He does, of course! A clergyman!"

"Leave him out of it. Poor old dad--it's quite broken him up. Think of
it, Dora, the wife of the rector of St. Botolph's parish to go to jail.
That's what it would mean. The rector himself disgraced, and his children
stigmatized forever. An erring son is a common thing; and an erring
brother doesn't necessarily besmirch a sister's honor. Can't you see,
Dora, that it's hard enough for them to bear without your casting your
stone as well?"

"Oh, Dick, I can't understand it. Has she no mother feeling? How could a
woman do such a thing? Her own son! To take adva