Kathleen?"

"You needn't be disagreeable," she observed.

"My dear Kathleen, I assure you I am not angry. I am merely a little

sorry for human nature. I could have sworn Woods was honest. But

rogues all, rogues all, Kathleen! Money rules us in the end; and now

the parable is fulfilled, and Love the prodigal returns to make merry

over the calf of gold. Confess," Mr. Kennaston queried, with a smile,

"is it not strange an all-wise Creator should have been at pains to

fashion this brave world about us for little men and women such as

we to lie and pilfer in? Was it worth while, think you, to arch the