int a scamp down to your heel-taps, get up out of that chair
like a man, treat your wife as she deserves for letting you off so
easy, and don't make her change her mind by acting as if you, and not
her, was the wronged person."

At heart Ferguson was a weak, cowardly, selfish creature, whose chief
aim in life was to have things to suit himself. When they ceased to be
agreeable, he was ready for a change, without much regard for the means
to his ends. He had always foreseen the possibility of the event which
had now taken place, but, like all self-indulgent natures, had hoped
that he might escape detection.

Alida, moreover, had won a far stronger hold upon him than he had once
imagined possible. He was terribly mortified and cast down by the
result of his experiment, as he regarded it. But the thought of a
prison and hard labor speedily drew his mind away from this aspect of
the affair. He had been fairly caught, his lark was over, and he soon
resolved that the easiest and safest way out of the scrape was the best
way. He therefore raised his head and came forward with a penitent air
as he said: "It's natural I should be overwhelmed with shame at the
position in which I find myself. But I see the truth of your words,
and I'll try to make it all right as far as I can. I'll go back with
you and Hannah to my old home. I've got money in the bank, I'll sell
out everything here, and I'll pay you, William, as far as I can, what
you've spent. Hannah is mighty good to let me off so easy, and she
won't be sorry. This man is witness to what I say," and the detective
nodded.

"Why, Ferguson," said Mr. Hackman effusively, "now you're talking like
a man. Come and kiss him, Hannah, and make it all up."

"That's the way with you men," said the woman bitterly. "These things
count for little. Henry Ferguson must prove he's honest in what he
says by deeds, not words. I'll do as I've said if he acts square, and
that's enough to start with."

"All right," said Ferguson, glad enough to escape the caress. "I'll do
as I say."

He did do all he promised, and very promptly, too. He was not capable
of believing that a woman wronged as Alida had been would not prosecute
him, and he was eager to escape to another state, and, in a certain
measure, again to hide his identity under his own actual name.

Meanwhile, how fared the poor creature who had fled, driven forth by
her first wild impulse to escape from a false and terrible