en her father had repeated
himself, she asked with even greater intensity: "Wha'd he say to that?
He didn't take it, did he?"

"He laughed kinda queer an' says all I got to do to give him a good
night's rest is to wire Henry Nelson the deal's closed. An' him with
less 'n a hundred dollars!"

Allie spoke again in great relief. "Lord! You give me a turn." Her
expression altered, her lips parted in a slow smile. "So! He's pore,
eh? Pore as we was. Well, I declare!" She rose and turned her back upon
her father.

"No, he ain't pore," Briskow said, irritably. "Not now he ain't. I says
it's his deal an' his money, an' we got plenty. An' I stuck to it."

Allie wheeled suddenly at this announcement. She uttered a cry of
protest; then, "What are you talkin' about?" she roughly demanded.

"We had some argyment an' I got kinda r'iled. Finally he says if I feel
that way we'll go pardners. He wouldn't listen to nothin' else,
an'--that's how it stands. He made twenty-four thousand an' I--"

"You--You _fool!_"

Gus Briskow looked up with a start to find his daughter standing over
him, her face ablaze, her deep bosom heaving. He stared at her in frank
amazement, doubting his senses. Never had Allegheny used toward him a
word, a tone like this, never had he seen her look as she did at this
moment. He could not believe his eyes, for the girl had become a
scowling fury, and she seemed upon the verge of destroying him with her
strong hands, a task she was amply able to accomplish.

"Allie-_Allie!_" the mother gasped. She, too, was aghast. "You--you're
talkin' to your pa!"

"You give him twenty-four thousan' dollars? _Give_ it to him? Wha'd you
do it for? Wha'd you--?" Allie's voice failed her completely, she
groped at her throat, uttering unintelligible, animal-like sounds.

"Why, Allie, you're _mad!_ And after all he done for me an' you," Mrs.
Briskow cried, accusingly. "You oughter be ashamed."

"Sure! Didn't he make us twenty-four thousan' dollars, where we
wouldn't of got nothin'? An' us rich as we are, an' him broke? I'm
supprised at you." A harsh exclamation burst from the girl--to the
astonished parents it sounded like an oath, but it could not have
been--then she swung herself heavily about and rushed blindly into the
next room, slamming the stout metal door behind her with a crash that
threatened to unhinge it.

"Well, I be--darned!" Gus Briskow turned a slack, empty face upon the
partner of his joys. "I--I never s'p