"I . . . . . I believe so!"

"Well, then, which is most equitable, to take openly from a rich friend, and say, 'I thank you;' or to take, underhand, from a hardworking stranger, whom you scorn to own yourself obliged to, though you don't scruple to harass and plunder? Which, I say, is most equitable?"

Ellis shuddered, hesitated, and then said, "The alternative, thus stated, admits of no contest! I must pay my debts—and extricate myself from the consequences as I can!"

"Why then you are as good as you are pretty!" cried he, delighted: "Very good, and very pretty, indeed! And so I thought you at first! And so I shall think you to the end!"

He then hurried away, to give her no time to retract; nodding and talking to himself in her praise, with abundant complacency; and saying, as he passed through the shop, "Miss Matson, you'll be all of you paid to-morrow morning