of the fire-lighted hearth looked at him in
surprise. "Yes, just that; but I intended no reflection on your opinion;
perhaps I ought to say frankly, that it implied a doubt of your powers
of judgment in a business matter like the one in question. Naturally, it
does not lie in your line."

Father Honore smiled a little sadly. "Perhaps you may recall that old
saying of the Jew, Nathan the Wise: 'A man is a man before he is either
Christian or Jew.' And we are men, Mr. Van Ostend; men primarily before
we are either financier or priest. Let us speak as man to man; put aside
all points of view entailed by difference of training, and meet on the
common ground of our manhood, I am sure the perspective and
retrospective ought to be in the same line of vision from that
standpoint."

Mr. Van Ostend was silent. He was thinking deeply. The priest saw this,
and waited for the answer which he felt sure would be well thought out
before it found expression. He spoke at last, slowly, weighing his
words:

"I am questioning whether, with the best intentions as men to meet in
the common plane of our manhood, to see from thence alike in a certain
direction, you and I, at our age, can escape from the moulded lines of
our training into that common plane."

"I think we can if we keep to the fundamentals of life."

"We can but try; but there must be then an absolutely unclouded
expression of individual opinion on the part of each." His assertion
implied both a challenge and a doubt. "What is your idea of the reason
for his succumbing to such a temptation?"

"I believe it was the love of money and the power its acquisition
carries with it. I know, too, that Mrs. Googe blames herself for having
fostered this ambition in him. She would only too gladly place anything
that is hers to make good, but there is nothing left; it all went." He
straightened himself. "What I have come to you for, Mr. Van Ostend, is
to ask you one direct question: Are you willing to make good the amount
of the embezzlement to the syndicate and save prosecution in this
special case--save the man, Champney Googe, and so give him another
chance in life? You know, but not so well, perhaps, as I, what years in
a penitentiary mean for a man when he leaves it."

"Are you aware that you are asking me to put a premium on crime?" Mr.
Van Ostend asked coldly. He looked at the priest as if he thought he had
taken leave of his senses.

"That is one way of putting it, I admit; b