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 an' said, 'Hey diddle-diddle,' an' up she went."

Tibbs positively smirked.

"Had one chance left—cabled the brokers, 'Sell So-and-so at market'; was all right if hadn't sold out on me at 39½. Answer came next day, 'Sold so many shares So-and-so at 112.' Felt little 'shamed at first, Beauling—you can understand that, can't you? Then felt better—big drunk, three days—all right now; booked passage Monday on Leda—off to Ellen—glorious reunion—wife made happy—boy all right—devoted father, rich's hell. Awful rich now, Beauling."

Beauling lay back in his chair like a frigate in a calm. All the wind had been taken out of all his sails.

"Tibbs," he said at length, "I've a great mind to give you a thrashing. I think it would do us both a world of good. Just because you were a dishonest little coward and ran away, your wife nearly died of heart-break and your boy of typhoid. Just because you were too foot-