hey KNEW the other
man had a royal flush! I've seen a man sell his claim for a wild-cat
share, with the gold lying a foot below him in the ground he walked on.
I've seen a dead shot shoot wild because he THOUGHT he saw something in
the other man's eye. I've seen a heap of God-forsaken fools, but I never
saw one before who claimed God as a pal. You've got a wife a d----d
sight truer to you for what you call her 'sin,' than you've ever been
to her, with all your d----d salvation! And as you couldn't make her
otherwise, though you've tried to hard enough, it seems to me that for
square downright chuckle-headedness, you can take the cake! Good-night!
Now, run away and play! You're making me tired."

"One moment," said Mr. Rylands awkwardly and hurriedly. "I may have
wronged you; I was mistaken. Won't you come back with me and accept
my--our--hospitality?"

"Not much," said Jack. "I left your house because I thought it better
for you and her that no one should know of my being there."

"But you were already recognized," said Mr. Rylands. "It was Jane who
lied about you, and your return with me will confute her slanders."

"Who?" asked Jack.

"Jane, our hired girl."

Mr. Hamlin uttered an indescribable laugh.

"That's just as well! You simply tell Jane you SAW me; that I was
greatly shocked at what she said, but that I forgive her. I don't think
she'll say any more."

Strange to add, Mr. Hamlin's surmise was correct. Mr. Rylands found Jane
still in the kitchen alone, terrified, remorseful, yet ever after
silent on the subject. Stranger still, the hired man became equally
uncommunicative. Mrs. Rylands, attributing her husband's absence only
to care of the stock, had gone to bed in a feverish condition, and Mr.
Rylands did not deem it prudent to tell her of his interview. The next
day she sent for the doctor, and it was deemed necessary for her to
keep her bed for a few days. Her husband was singularly attentive and
considerate during that time, and it was probable that Mrs. Rylands
seized that opportunity to tell him the secret she spoke of the night
before. Whatever it was,--for it was not generally known for a few
months later,--it seemed to draw them closer together, imparted a
protecting dignity to Joshua Rylands, which took the place of his
former selfish austerity, gave them a future to talk of confidentially,
hopefully, and sometimes foolishly, which took the place of their more
foolish past, and when the ro