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260 what was the particular harm that I did to the widow when I gave her the rent."

"You think," said the Black Man, "that you did a great act that day. Perhaps you will be astonished when I say that you prevented on that day an act which was much greater and nobler than the act you did."

"What was the noble act I prevented on that day? Name it. Indefinite talk of that sort won't do. If I were to let you talk vaguely like that, there is no knowing where we should stop, and you would pawn off black for white and white for black on me. That is your trade. Drop that trade now, and speak plainly. Put its name and surname upon the noble deed which I prevented the day I gave the rent to the widow out of your purse."

"I will speak plainly, never you fear," said the Black Man. "If the widow had been evicted that day she would have conformed her will to the will of God, as she always does, the little wretch! That would have been a nobler act than the act you did when you gave her the rent, a thing that did not impoverish yourself a bit in the world. Do you understand that? Or must I speak more plainly?"

"Very fine," said Shiana. "Very beautiful! Very beautiful, indeed! I suppose," said he, "that if the bailiff had evicted her, he would have done a nobler act than either of the others."

"How is that?" said the Black Man, with a sharp, searching look in his eyes.

"Why, look you now, how very dull you are!" said Shiana. "She would have conformed her will to the will of God. But is it not the bailiff that would have forced her to do so! When a widow is