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Rh This was too much. Mr. Betts, who was afflicted by an irrepressible sense of humor, burst into loud laughter.

"Well, colonel," he said, "now that you remind me, I believe I have heard that there was a hitch about your millions. So there is about mine. Yours are gone, and mine ain't come. Brothers in misfortune! Shake on that!"

He held out a large fist, and the colonel, not quite comprehending, but feeling the derision about him in an inward sense of heated discomfort, put his hand in it. Mr. Betts gave it a vigorous clasp, and holding it aloft, said:

"The Corsican Brothers!—as they appeared at that fatal moment when one had just lost and the other not yet found his pile."

There was a shout of laughter, and the old man drew his hand away. His face was deeply flushed, and a feeling of tremulous indignation was rising in him.

"Don't despond, colonel," said Miss Mercer, cheerily. "Lots of men have made two fortunes. There 's a chance for you yet."

"I guess there 's about as much chance for him," said Mrs. Betts, who was an acidulous lady of a practical turn, "as there is for Mr. Betts. I 'm sorter tired of this talk of making millions, and then never having an extra dollar."

"Stick close to the colonel, Mrs. Betts," said Charley Ryan, "and you 'll have your extra