's family complication, the old man's appreciation
of his son's true position in the community could not fail to be
enhanced. James Riley's most vulnerable point was his vanity, and the
present opportunity to gratify it was more than he could well resist.
The elder Riley, without having analyzed his son's characteristics to
this extent, was intuitively conscious of a yielding to his appeal, and
he was not slow to follow it up.

"That's th' good la-ad, Jimmie," he said, coaxingly. "Ye knows how tight
I keeps me mouth shut; an' phwat hits ye or Misther Robert hits me."

"Well," James replied, indulgently, blowing another cloud of
smoke--"'tis his wife that it's all about."

"His wife!" the old man repeated, surprised and excited--"about Mrs.
Gorham, d'ye say?"

"That is--provided she is his wife. There is them that says she ain't."

"Who says she ain't?" Riley almost shouted the words as he rose
excitedly to his feet. "Who says she ain't? By God, I'll kill th' man
phwat says that!"

"Slowly, slowly," James answered, soothingly, thoroughly enjoying his
father's amazement and excitement. "That's for them to settle as knows
how, but it's to me Mr. Gorham must look to help him out. Now, do you
understand where I come in?"

"Ah, Jimmie, ye're killin' me wid yer slowness. Out wid it, la-ad! What
do they say, an' who done phwat? Out wid it!"

"The divorce was crooked, so they say; and now her first husband is here
in New York and wants her back."

"But it ain't true, Jimmie--it ain't true; tell me that."

"I don't know yet myself," James admitted; "but there's a few things I
do know what ought to be worth the coin to Mr. Gorham."

"An' ye're goin' ter give 'em ter him?"

"Perhaps," James replied, indifferently--"if he thinks they're worth
what I do."

"But Misther Robert has paid ye already, hasn't he? Hasn't these new
prosperity things come out iv Misther Robert's pay?"

"He's got what he's paid for," James asserted. "These new tips come to
me while I was workin' on my own account. They're worth the coin to
either side."

"That's phwat ye meant when ye said there was more prosperity comin'?"

"Sure."

"An' if Misther Robert don't pay ye ye'er price, ye'll sell 'em ter th'
other feller who says his wife ain't his wife?"

"Business is business," James replied, sagely.

The elder Riley's lips came close together as he rose quietly yet
quickly from his chair. In a moment more he had seized James by the
coll