第251章 MR. LISMORE AND THE WIDOW.(22)

"Yes. Before I tell you why, I want to know what you would do--in a certain case which I am unwilling even to suppose. I have heard of men, unable to pay the demands made on them, who began business again, and succeeded, and in course of time paid their creditors.""And you want to know if there is any likelihood of my following their example?" he said. "Have you also heard of men who have made that second effort--who have failed again--and who have doubled the debts they owed to their brethren in business who trusted them? I knew one of those men myself. He committed suicide."She laid her hand for a moment on his.

"I understand you," she said. "If ruin comes--""If ruin comes," he interposed, "a man without money and without credit can make but one last atonement. Don't speak of it now."She looked at him with horror.

"I didn't mean _that!_" she said.

"Shall we go back to what you read in the will?" he suggested.

"Yes--if you will give me a minute to compose myself."

VI.

IN less than the minute she had asked for, Mrs. Callender was calm enough to go on.