" It is incredible."

The girl, her face suddenly white, only stared
with wide, unseeing eyes at Jones's red, twitching
face.
" I tell you, it's true." Jones stopped. Reaction
had set in, reaction which brought with it that terrify-
ing dizziness, that blurring vision. It sobered him.
Caution, which he had thrown to the winds, returned.
He had gone too far. " I can trust you not to men-
tion the matter," he hurried on. " Of course my wife
is above reproach. I oughtn't to have told you but
— you mustn't lose that money. You'll stop pay-
ment on that check, now? " he urged.
17 249



THE YASDSTICK MAN



In the pause which followed, Mabel's hand once
more lifted mechanically. Then it faltered and
dropped, and the girl turned miserably away.
" No, Jones,'' said the preacher at last, quietly.
" It was a bargain. I can lose the money, but I shall
keep the faith. Poor Matty!" he added with a
sigh.
Jones stared at him blankly. Anger at the
preacher's stubbomtiess surged within him, but
caution crowded it down.
" Very well. I wash my hands of it," he said
gruffly. " I've done my duty, more than my duty.
It isn't my fault — " He broke off suddenly.
A door had slammed upstairs, and he heard foot-
steps on the stairs. Almost at once Professor Trow-
bridge, in a threadbare swallow-tail, which made him
look taller and more sharp-pointed than ever, ap-
peared in the doorway, and, behind him, Mrs. Jones.
