en't any feelings for the poor."

"I haven't any feeling for criminals," said Mrs. Kent, in a sharp voice.

He uttered a stifled oath and his face flushed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that you came here straight from a prison; deny it if you can,"
she said, sternly.

He hesitated. Then he said:

"I'm not the only innocent man that's been locked up."

"You can't deceive me," she answered, "though you protest your innocence
all day. I shall not believe you. I feel sure that you were guilty of
the crime for which you were punished."

"It's rather hard that my own flesh and blood should turn against me."

"You have disgraced the family," said Mrs. Kent. "I discard you. I no
longer look upon you as my brother."

"If you had not turned me off with such a pittance it wouldn't have
happened," he said, sullenly. "Out of your abundance you only gave me
fifty dollars."

"And you a stout, broad-shouldered man, must accept charity or steal!"
she said, sarcastically.

"Luck has always been against me."

"Your own bad habits have always been against you."

"Look here," said he, doggedly, "I won't stand any more of that, even
from my own sister."

"Very well. What have you come here for?"

"I'm out of money."

"And you expect me to supply you?"

"I think you might give me a little, just to get along."

"I shall not give you a cent. You have no claim upon me. I have already
said that I no longer look upon you as a brother."

"Is that all you've got to say?" demanded Dick, his face growing dark
with anger.

"It is my final determination."

"Then all I've got to say is, you'll repent it to the last day of your
life!" he burst out, furiously. "I'll go away"--here he arose--"but I'll
never forget your cruelty and harshness."

He strode out of the room, and she looked after him coldly.

"It is as well," she said to herself. "Now he understands that there is
no more to be got out of me, I hope I shall never lay eyes upon him
again."

"Well," said Nicholas, entering directly afterward, "what have you said
to him? He dashed out of the yard, looking as black as a thunder-cloud."

"I told him that he had disgraced the family and I should never more
acknowledge him as a brother."

"I'm glad you sent him off with a flea in his ear. I don't want to see
him around here again."

"I don't think we shall."

There was one thing Mrs. Kent forgot--her brother's brutal temper and
appetite for revenge. Had s