pired with the thief
to make away with it.' These are the words that will be spoken in the
streets."

Festus Clasby set great store on his name, the name he had got painted
for the eye of the country over his door.

"I will be known to the police as one extensive in my dealings," he
said. "They will not couple me with this man who is known as one living
outside of the law."

"It is not for the Peelers to put the honest man on one side and the
thief on the other. That will be for the court. You will stand with him
upon my charge. The Peelers will say to you, 'We know you to be a man of
great worth, and the law will uphold you.' But the law is slow, and a
man's good name goes fast.'"

Festus Clasby fingered his money in his pocket, and the touch of it made
him struggle. "The can may be this man's for all I know. You have no
brother, and I believe you to be a fraud."

"That, too, will be for the law to decide. If I have a brother, the law
will produce him when his fever is ended. If I have no brother the law
will so declare it. If my brother makes a Can with the Diamond Notch,
the law will hear of its value. If my brother does not make a Can with
the Diamond Notch you will know me as one deficient in truth. There is
no point under the stars that the law cannot be got to declare upon. But
as is right, the law is slow, and will wait for a man to come out of
his fever. Before it can decide, another man's good name, like a little
cloud riding across the sky, is gone from the memory of the people and
will not come riding back upon the crest of any wind."

"It will be a great price to be paying for a tin can," said Festus
Clasby. He was turning around with his fingers the coins in his pocket.

The woman put the can on her arm, then covered it up with her shawl,
like a hen taking a chick under the protection of her wing.

"I have given you many words," she said, "because you are a man sizeable
and good to the eye of a foolish woman. If I had not a sick brother I
might be induced to let slip his right in the Can with the Diamond Notch
for the pleasure I have found in the look of your face. When I saw you
on the cart I said, 'There is the build of a man which is to my fancy.'
When I heard your voice I said, 'That is good music to the ear of a
woman.' When I saw your eye I said, 'There is danger to the heart of a
woman.' When I saw your beard I said, 'There is a great growth from the
strength of a man.' When you spoke to me