ives pulled you out and dragged you into the bank."

The doctor entered and quickly dressed Stuart's wounds, and turned to
Nan.

"He'll be all right in a week or so, Mrs. Bivens--provided he doesn't
insist on breaking the run on another bank by the spell of his
eloquence. I hope you can persuade him not to try that again."

"I think I'm fully persuaded, Doctor," Stuart answered grimly, "I've
seen a great light to-day."

When the doctor had gone and Nan was left alone with Stuart an
embarrassed silence fell between them.

She was quietly wondering if he were fully unconscious when she was
sobbing and saying some very foolish things. Above all she was
wondering whether he knew that she had kissed him.

And the man was wondering if the memory of the tear that fell on his
face and the pressure of a woman's lips were only a dream.

He scouted the idea of going to a hospital and Nan insisted on taking
him home.

When her car stopped at South Washington Square and Stuart insisted on
scrambling out alone, she held his hand tight a moment and spoke with
trembling earnestness:

"You will see me now, Jim, and be friends?"

He answered promptly.

"Yes, Nan, I will. The world is never going to be quite the same place
for me after to-day. There was one moment this morning in which I think
I lived a thousand years."

A hot flush stole over the woman's beautiful face as she looked
steadily into his eyes and quietly asked:

"What moment was that?"

"The moment I looked down that gun barrel, saw the stupid hate in that
fool's eyes and felt the throb of the insane desire to kill in the
people behind him, the people for whom I've been giving my life a
joyous sacrifice."

Nan smiled a sigh of relief.

"Oh! I see--well, you've made me very happy with your promise, I know
you'll keep your word."

Stuart looked at her a moment curiously. Was there a tear trembling in
the corner of her dark eyes as she spoke the last sentence, or was it
his imagination?

He pressed her hand firmly.

"You are more beautiful than ever, Nan. Yes, I'll keep my word.
Good-bye until I call."

And the woman smiled in triumph.

CHAPTER X

THE DEMI-GOD

The clouds of the panic slowly lifted and the sun began once more to
shine. A fearless officer of the law had struck a blow for justice that
marked the beginning of a new era of national life. And yet apparently
the only men to profit by it were the giants who rode the storm it ha