sick. Suppose I'd die of
cramps or something to-night, and never get to touch that money
again! It's eleven hours yet till time to see that lawyer. You won't
leave me, will you, Dawson? I'm afraid something might happen. You
haven't any place to go, have you?"

"No," said Vallance, "nowhere to-night. I'll have a bench with you."

"You take it cool," said Ide, "if you've told it to me straight. I
should think a man put on the bum from a good job just in one day
would be tearing his hair."

"I believe I've already remarked," said Vallance, laughing, "that
I would have thought that a man who was expecting to come into a
fortune on the next day would be feeling pretty easy and quiet."

"It's funny business," philosophized Ide, "about the way people take
things, anyhow. Here's your bench, Dawson, right next to mine. The
light don't shine in your eyes here. Say, Dawson, I'll get the old
man to give you a letter to somebody about a job when I get back
home. You've helped me a lot to-night. I don't believe I could have
gone through the night if I hadn't struck you."

"Thank you," said Vallance. "Do you lie down or sit up on these when
you sleep?"

For hours Vallance gazed almost without winking at the stars through
the branches of the trees and listened to the sharp slapping of
horses' hoofs on the sea of asphalt to the south. His mind was
active, but his feelings were dormant. Every emotion seemed to
have been eradicated. He felt no regrets, no fears, no pain or
discomfort. Even when he thought of the girl, it was as of an
inhabitant of one of those remote stars at which he gazed. He
remembered the absurd antics of his companion and laughed softly, yet
without a feeling of mirth. Soon the daily army of milk wagons made
of the city a roaring drum to which they marched. Vallance fell
asleep on his comfortless bench.

At ten o'clock on the next day the two stood at the door of Lawyer
Mead's office in Ann Street.

Ide's nerves fluttered worse than ever when the hour approached; and
Vallance could not decide to leave him a possible prey to the dangers
he dreaded.

When they entered the office, Lawyer Mead looked at them wonderingly.
He and Vallance were old friends. After his greeting, he turned
to Ide, who stood with white face and trembling limbs before the
expected crisis.

"I sent a second letter to your address last night, Mr. Ide," he
said. "I learned this morning that you were not there to receive it.
It will