's got fifty thousand dollars in the bank," hoarsely whispered
Avery, vicariously sharing in this pride of prosperity--the prosperity
beyond her reach.

"Uh-huh! Correct!" corroborated Buck, surveying her in increasing
triumph. This moment was really worth waiting through the years for,
he reflected.

"Twenty can play as well as one," croaked the parrot, his beady eye
pressed between the bars of his cage.

The signora glanced up at this new speaker, eyed Elkanah with a sage
look that he returned, and then, after a moment's reflection, said:

"Thanks for the suggestion, old chap. That is to say, three can play
as well as two, when there's fifty thousand in the bank. Buck, you
know I'm always outspoken and straight to the point. No underhanded
bluff for me. I'm going to sue you for ten thousand."

"Crack 'em down, gents!" remarked Elkanah, grimly.

Buck cast a malevolent look at the bird, and then, his cigar
tip-tilted and the corner of his mouth sarcastically askew, suggested
with an air as though the idea were the limit of satiric
impossibility:

"I want to know! Breach of promise, I per-sume!"

"Good aim! You've rung the bell," rejoined the lady, coolly.

The unconscionable impudence of the bare suggestion fetched a gasp
from both men. Plug Ivory's assumption of dignity crumbled
immediately. The years rolled back. He felt one of those old-time fits
of rage come bristling up the back of his head, the fury of old when
he had tried to wither that giddy creature in his spasms of jealousy.
But now, as in the past, her calm assurance put him out of countenance
and his wild anathemas died away in sputterings.

"I know all that, Ivory Buck," she said, icily. "But how are you going
to prove I was married? Where are you going to hunt for witnesses?
Professional people are like wild geese--roosting on air and moulting
their names like feathers. What proof of anything are you going to
find after all these thirty years? While I--I've got your letters,
every one--all your promises. Observe how I take my cue! Jury
a-listening! I've been hunting the world over for you. You hid here.
Here I find you--this poor, deserted woman, whose life has been
wrecked by your faithlessness, finds you. Me, with a crape veil, a
sniff in my nose, a crushed-creature face make-up, a tremolo in my
voice and a smart lawyer such as I know about! What can you two old
fools say to a country jury to block my bluff? Why, you can save money
by handi