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 foreigner if ever he should come within reach of Morton's long, powerful arm.

"We may count on you, then?" said Mrs. Durham. "I think, since of course you must see Miss Ford, that you might explain matters better than I can." "I would rather you saw her yourself," he said, dully, "or, better still, have a talk with her aunt."

"Very well," she assented. "Morris, I think we will leave you. Sorry to have made this little scene in your office, but I know you are anxious for your old friend Claudel's sake, and his daughter's, too."

"Oh, it'll turn out all right, all right!" jerked Courncey. "You've been a trump, a trump, madam! And, damme, if I ever get into trouble, I'll come to you." The little man wrung her hand once more, then lifted his snapping, black eyes, from which all the hardness had vanished, to the troubled face of his nephew.

"You're hit hard," he said, gravely, "and I'm sorry; but, my boy, better find these things out before marriage than afterward. That girl's a 256