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 "That's one responsibility I wouldn't want to have to carry." And then it suddenly occurred to him that there had been something ulterior in Simon's phrase, "a way out." "You know what they are trying to do to me—Blodgett, Tompkins, and Haley?" he asked, leaning forward again and lowering his voice to a whisper.

"They are nailing you to the cross," said the old man with a sigh. "It looks legitimate to them. It is legitimate, if you can't help yourself. And you can't—except this way," and he managed a gesture which seemed somehow to comprehend the Gilman securities. "It looks reasonable to me. It's a perfectly sound investment; it's a better earning power; it's all in the family; it helps you out of a hole; Mrs. Gilman would do it in a minute."

George shook his head slowly and solemnly and rose as if to get away from temptation.

"Think it over," insisted Mr. Mumford, rising also. "Think it over. They'll nail your hide on the barn door tomorrow. They're likely to demand twenty per cent. tomorrow, or twenty-five. Think it over."

The President of Judson-Morris looked troubled, but he still shook his head stubbornly.

"Tell you, George," proposed Simon encouragingly, "I'll come out to the works in the morning, say at ten, and we'll go into it a little further."