eart down in the city,"
pursued the inquisitor when the young man failed to answer. "Must be one
there now."

"I have no sweetheart in the city, Mr. Britt."

Then there was a longer silence in the room. The cashier was not
enduring inspection with an air that did credit to his promise to keep a
secret. Britt had made a breach in the wall of Vaniman's mental defense
by the means of that letter and its implied accusation; Britt was taking
advantage of that breach. Right then the young man was in a mood that
would have prompted him to fling the truth and his defiance at Britt if
the latter had kept on to the logical conclusion of his interrogation
and had asked whether there was a sweetheart elsewhere; Vaniman had
the feeling that by denying his love at that moment--to that man of all
others--he would be dealing insult to Vona Harnden, as well as taking
from her the protection that his affection gave her.

The attention of Britt was diverted from the quarry he was pursuing.

Outside Britt Block, Prophet Elias raised his voice in his regular
"vesper service." It was his practice, on his way to Usial Britt's
cottage from his daily domiciliary visits, to halt in front of the bank
and deliver a few texts. The first one--and the two men in the office
listened--was of the general tenor of those addressed to "Pharaoh."
Said the Prophet, in resounding tones, "'As a roaring lion and a ranging
bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.'"

"Vaniman, go out and tell that old hoot owl to move on! I'm in a
dangerous frame of mind to-day." Britt's lips were pulled tightly
against his yellow teeth.

The Prophet's next deliverance was more concretely to the
point--indicating that the exhorter was not so much wrapped up in
religion that he had no ear out for the political news current in Egypt
that day, "'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before
a fall.'"

There was a fireplace in the office and Britt leaped to it and grabbed
a poker. The cashier was moved to interfere, urged by two compelling
motives. He wanted to get away from his own dangerous situation of the
moment in that office--and he wanted to protect the old man outside
from assault. "I'll attend to him, sir!" But he halted at the door and
turned. "Mr. Britt, our talk has driven an important matter from my
mind. The men who bellow at me through the wicket have considerable to
say about our hoarding specie. It makes me uneasy to have that sort of