time
like the present, as the sayin' is."

"I s'pose it'll hev to be as you say," said the widow in a shaking
voice.

"Mis' Cullom," said David solemnly, "_you_ know, an' I know, that I've
got the repitation of bein' a hard, graspin', schemin' man. Mebbe I be.
Mebbe I've ben hard done by all my hull life, an' have had to be; an'
mebbe, now 't I've got ahead some, it's got to be second nature, an' I
can't seem to help it. 'Bus'nis is bus'nis' ain't part of the golden
rule, I allow, but the way it gen'ally runs, fur 's I've found out, is,
'Do unto the other feller the way he'd like to do unto you, an' do it
fust.' But, if you want to keep this thing a-runnin' as it's goin' on
now fer a spell longer, say one year, or two, or even three, you may,
only I've got somethin' to say to ye 'fore ye elect."

"Wa'al," said the poor woman, "I expect it 'd only be pilin' up wrath
agin the day o' wrath. I can't pay the int'rist now without starvin',
an' I hain't got no one to bid in the prop'ty fer me if it was to be
sold."

"Mis' Cullom," said David, "I said I'd got somethin' more to tell ye,
an' if, when I git through, you don't think I've treated you right,
includin' this mornin's confab, I hope you'll fergive me. It's this, an'
I'm the only person livin' that 's knowin' to it, an' in fact I may say
that I'm the only person that ever was really knowin' to it. It was
before you was married, an' I'm sure he never told ye, fer I don't doubt
he fergot all about it, but your husband, Billy P. Cullom, that was,
made a small investment once on a time, yes, ma'am, he did, an' in his
kind of careless way it jes' slipped his mind. The amount of cap'tal he
put in wa'n't large, but the rate of int'rist was uncommon high. Now, he
never drawed no dividends on't, an' they've ben 'cumulatin' fer forty
year, more or less, at compound int'rist."

[Illustration: DAVID HARUM, Act III]

The widow started forward, as if to rise from her seat. David put his
hand out gently and said, "Jest a minute, Mis' Cullom, jest a minute,
till I git through. Part o' that cap'tal," he resumed, "consistin' of a
quarter an' some odd cents, was invested in the cirkis bus'nis, an' the
rest on't--the cap'tal, an' all the cash cap'tal that I started in
bus'nis with--was the ten cents your husband give me that day, an'
here," said David, striking the papers in his left hand with the back of
his right, "_here_ is the _dividends_! This here second morgige, not
bein' on