"But do you think it would be right?"

"Oh, no!" he cried mockingly. "Certainly not! It would be a terrible crime to unite a husband and wife and fix up a broken home! To say nothing of giving me back my regular job at a hundred and fifty. Shall I?"

Fanny wrung her hands with excitement. It certainly was a daring plan.

"I—I'm scared," she stammered, unwilling to commit herself.

"I'm not," he said boldly, "I'm never afraid of any game where I can't lose! And if it came through, you know what it would mean for us—good clothes, good food, money to spend and nothing to worry about except moving down to a Hundred and Twenty-fifth street! What do you say?"

"I don't know—" she answered hesitatingly.

"And then," he continued persuasively, "you must think of little Virgie. A baby makes a lot of difference—"

"Indeed it does," she replied warmly. "I bet Virginia would never have left Robert if they had had a baby."

"Shall I do it?" he asked tentatively.

"I'm scared. I am—honest I am!"