grant you
I was mad when I signed the report, but I am sane now."

"What packet was that you gave me?"

"Your money back."

"The ten thousand pounds?"

"Yes; I did not want it. I have delivered my soul, and nothing else
matters."

"Tell me at least one thing. Is this strange action on your part owing
to the child's accident?"

"It is. I was going headlong down to hell, but God, through her, has
pulled me up short. Gold is utterly valueless to me now. The child is
dying, and I cannot part with her for all eternity. You can draw your
own conclusions."

As Ogilvie spoke he shook Grayleigh's detaining hand from his arm. The
chairman of the Lombard Deeps Company stood still for a moment, then
returned to the directors.

As Grayleigh walked slowly upstairs he had a moment's conflict with
his own conscience. In one thing at least Ogilvie was generous. He had
not dragged Lord Grayleigh to the earth in his own fall. The affair of
the ten thousand pounds was known to no one else.

"He fell, and I caused him to fall," thought Lord Grayleigh. "In the
moment of his fall, if I were even half a man, I would stand by him
and acknowledge my share in the matter. But no; where would be the
use? I cannot drag my children through the mire. Poor Ogilvie is
losing his child, and for him practically life is over."

Grayleigh re-entered the room where the directors waited for him.

"I saw Ogilvie just now," he said, "and he sticks to his story. I
fear, too, that I was wrong in my conjecture with regard to his
madness. He must have had a temporary madness when he drew up and
signed the false report. I suppose we ought to consider ourselves
lucky."

"At least the widows and orphans won't be ruined," said one of the
directors, a thin-faced anxious-looking man. "Well, of course, Lord
Grayleigh, we must all wash our hands of this."

"We must do so advisedly," was Grayleigh's remark; "remember, we have
gone far. Remember, the cablegram was not kept too secret, and the
knowledge of the excellent report sent by Ogilvie has got to the
ears of one or two city editors. He must give out that there was a
misunderstanding as to the value of the mine."

"And what of Ogilvie himself?" said an angry-looking man. "Such
infamous conduct requires stringent measures. Do you gentlemen share
my views?"

One or two did, but most protested against dragging Ogilvie's story
too prominently into the light of day.

"It may reflect on ourselves," said