is
face settled. Gambler that he was with the fortunes of men and the
reputations of women, he knew that he had lost. He tried one more
card--it was a poor one.

"Why are you so hard on me?" he asked, with something like a whine--a
faint whine--in his voice. "You, who I used to think--whom I have known
from boyhood, you have always been so hard on me! What did I ever do to
you that you should have hounded me so?"

Keith's face showed that the charge had reached him, but it failed of
the effect that Wickersham had hoped for. His lip curled slightly.

"I am not hard on you; I am easy on you--but not for your sake," he
added vehemently. "You have betrayed every trust reposed in you. You
have deceived men and betrayed women. No vow has been sacred enough to
restrain you; no tie strong enough to hold you. Affection, friendship,
faith, have all been trampled under your feet. You have deliberately
attempted to destroy the happiness of one of the best friends you have
ever had; have betrayed his trust and tried to ruin his life. If I
served you right I would place you beyond the power to injure any one,
forever. The reason I do not is not on your account, but because I
played with you when we were boys, and because I do not know how far my
personal feeling might influence me in carrying out what I still
recognize as mere justice." He closed his watch. "Your time is up. Do
you agree?"

"I will sign the papers," said Wickersham, sullenly.

Keith drew out a pen and handed it to him. Wickersham signed the papers
slowly and deliberately.

"When did you take to writing backhand?" asked Keith.

"I have done it for several years," declared Wickersham. "I had writer's
cramp once."

The expression on Keith's face was very like a sneer, but he tried to
suppress it.

"It will do," he said, as he folded the papers and took another envelope
from his pocket. "This is your ticket for the steamer for Buenos Ayres,
which sails to-morrow morning at high tide. Dennison will go with you to
a notary to acknowledge these papers, and then will show you aboard of
her and will see that you remain aboard until the pilot leaves her.
To-morrow a warrant will be put in the hands of an officer and an
application will be made for a receiver for your property."

Wickersham leant back in his chair, with hate speaking from every line
of his face.

"You will administer on my effects? I suppose you are also going to be
administrator, _de bonis non_,