He had but just time to conceal the paper within his breast, when Granite returned.
"You here yet?" he cried. "Have I not done enough to-day? What other beggarly brat do you come suing for?"
"For none, dear sir," said Sterling. "I would simply test that benevolence, of which you spoke but now—the money which you sent to Travers"——
"Well, what of it?"
"I have lost!"
"Pooh! old man," continued the other, contemptuously, "don't think to deceive me by such a stale device; that's a very old trick."
"You don't believe me?"
"No."
"After so many years!" cried the old man, with tear-choked utterance.
"The temptation was too much for you," bitterly replied the merchant. The old leaven exhibited itself once more. "You remember"——