he removal of one unscrupulous woman out of my path
merely took the lightning out of the edge of the nearest cloud. But in
the supreme exaltation of the moment I considered none of these things.
In this climaxing of happiness the disaster which had hung over my head
for weeks and months seemed as far removed and remote as it had been
imminent only a few hours before.

We were together through what remained of the afternoon; until it was
nearly time for Phineas Everton to come home. When we parted I had
gained my point and our plans were all made. We were to be married
very quietly the following day. I had no wish to make the wedding the
social function which my position as one of the three partners in the
Little Clean-Up might have justified; and Polly agreed with me in this.

It was not until after I had left the house that I remembered that the
forced financing of Agatha Geddis's elopement had practically drained
my bank account. There had been no mention of money in our talk before
the fire; we were both far and away beyond the reach of any such sordid
topic. But Phineas Everton would have a right to ask questions, and I
must be prepared to answer them. After dinner at the hotel I captured
Barrett, drove him into a quiet corner of the lobby, and made my wail.

"Heavens and earth!" he gasped when I had told him the shameful truth.
"Are you telling me that you let that woman hold you up for all the
ready money you had in the world?"

"It listens that way," I confessed; adding, out of the heart of
sincerity: "It was cheap at the price; I was glad enough to be quit of
her at any price."

"This is pretty serious, Jimmie," he asserted, after he had re-lighted
his cigar. "It isn't the mere fact that you have recklessly chucked a
small fortune at the Geddis person--that is a mere matter of dollars
and cents, and the Little Clean-Up will square you up on that. But
there is another side to it. The dreadful thing is the fact that she
had enough of a grip on you to make you do it. I'll like it better if
you will say that you were blind drunk when you did it."

"I wasn't--more's the pity, Bob; on the contrary, I was never soberer
in my life."

"Of course, you haven't told Polly."

"No--not yet."

"Nor Everton?"

I shook my head. "I didn't want to commit suicide."

Barrett chuckled softly.

"I happen to know this fellow the Geddis woman is running away with,"
he said. "He has gone through his wife's for