the two hundred
dollars."

"You mean our ring, Corinne?"

"Yes."

"You shall not sell ze ring. Nefer!"

"But I must. We will get it back."

"No, I forbid! I stay here first." Corinne's face fairly glowed with
tenderness.

"Let me do as I think best, darling," she said. "The first thing is to
get you out of this wretched place. Now tell me all about it."

He told her all, or, at least, all he needed to tell, and she left him
with the understanding that she should meet the guard in the City Hall
Park two hours later and arrange about the bail-bond with a man whom he
should present to her. She hurried up-town and collected in her lodgings
half a dozen valuable pieces of jewelry. These she took to a pawnshop
and upon them she realized something more than the sum necessary to
obtain Tulitz's bondsman. At the appointed hour she was walking
leisurely through the Park, and soon found herself approaching two men.
One she recognized as the guard. The other was an elderly man dressed
in a black suit of broadcloth which, in its time, had been very fine
indeed. But it was made for him when he was younger and less corpulent
than now, and he bulged it out in a way that was trying to the stitches
and the buttons. His silk hat was shiny, but exceedingly worn, and the
boots upon his feet, despite his creditable efforts to make them appear
at all possible advantage, were in a rebellious humor, like a glum
soldier in need of sleep. His hair was bushy and gray, and his mustache
meant to be gray, too, but his habit of chewing the ends of his cigars
had resulted in its taking on a yellow border.

"Dis is the gen'l'man wot'll go on Mr. Tulitz's bond, mum," said the
guard. "His name's Rivers."

"Madam Tulitz, I am your humble and obedient servant. Colonel Rivers,
Colonel Edward Lawrence Rivers, and most happy in this unfortunate
emergency to serve you. I have read in the papers of M. Tulitz's
disagreeable--er--situation. It is a gross outrage. The bail is $5000,
this gentleman tells me. Infamous, perfectly infamous! The idea of
requiring such a bond for so trivial an affair. When I was in Congress I
introduced an Amendment to the Constitution providing that no bail
should be demanded in excess of $500. It didn't get through; the
capitalistic influence was too much for me. However, I'd just as lief,
to tell the truth, go on M. Tulitz's bond for five thousand as for one.
I know he'll be where he's wanted when the time comes, and if he