followed by the newspaper men, a half-dozen young fellows with
clean-cut, eager faces.

Not one of them showed a pencil or a note-book, but not a feature of
the startling exhibition escaped their intelligence. Every eye flashed
with piercing light, every nerve quivered with sensitive impressions.
Every sight, sound and smell wrote its story on their imagination--the
odour of the flowers on Bivens's desk in the little sitting room, the
picture of his wife beside them, the smell of the leather on the walls,
the touch of their hands on the silent symbols of power lying in yellow
heaps--all found souls that throbbed and lived and spoke in their vivid
sensational reports.

They looked at Bivens with peculiar awe. Stuart noted with a smile that
not one of them spoke loudly in the presence of ninety millions of
dollars. All whispered except a blase youngster from _The Evening
Post_. He dared to articulate his words in modulated tones. He seemed
to regard himself as a sort of assistant high priest at this
extraordinary function. The other fellows unconsciously paid the
tribute of whispered awe to the great god all true New Yorkers worship.

When Bivens led them out at last and returned to the room, he was in
high spirits.

"Now, Jim," he began hastily, "if you have said all the bad things you
can possibly think about me, we'll get down to business and I'll
present the big proposition you can't resist. As I told you a while
ago, I've just begun to make money. Come into the next room while my
men remove the evil from our midst."

He smiled lovingly at his treasures as if in apology for his momentary
levity.

CHAPTER XII

TEMPTATION

When Stuart had seated himself on a luxurious leather-covered chair in
the little sitting-room he gazed into the flickering fire with a
feeling of strange excitement.

He could hear Bivens giving orders to his employees about the removal
of his millions to the vaults below. It would take hours to complete
the task. He could hear the deep vibrant ring of the gold, as the men
dumped it into bags.

As he listened to the curious sound he began dimly to realize that the
foundation of his life and character were being undermined. There could
be no mistake about it. He had made some brave talk to Bivens's face as
he stared at the daring display of his money. He couldn't realize it
then. He was on guard. But now that he was alone and his imagination
began to paint pictures and his fancy