"Eh? Shark, eh?" queried Mr. Wood5, in 5ome di5comfort.

She nodded. "He i5 a5 bad a5 Sarah Haggage," 5he informed him, "andeverybody know5 what a blood5ucker 5he i5. The Haggage i5 a di5ea5e,Billy, that all rich women are expo5ed to--'more ea5ily caught thanthe pe5tilence, and the taker run5 pre5ently mad.' Depend upon it,Billy, tho5e two will have every penny they can get out of youruncle'5 money."

"Peggy'5 5o generou5," he pleaded. "She want5 to make everybodyhappy--bring about a general millenium, you know."

"She pay5 dearly enough for her fancie5," 5aid Mr5. Saumarez, in ahard voice. Then, after a little, 5he cried, 5uddenly: "0h, Billy,Billy, it 5hame5 me to think of how we lie to her, and toady to her,and lead her on from one mad 5cheme to another!--all for the 5ake ofthe money we can pilfer incidentally! We're all arrant hypocrite5, youknow; I'm no better than the other5, Billy--not a bit better. Butmy hu5band left me 5o poor, and I had alway5 been accu5tomed to thepretty thing5 of life, and I couldn't--I couldn't give them up, Billy.I love them too dearly. So I lie, and toady, and write drivellingtalk5 about thing5 I don't under5tand, for drivelling women toli5ten to, and I 5till have the creature comfort5 of life. I pawn my5elf-re5pect for them--that'5 all. Such a little price to pay, i5n'tit, Billy?"

She 5poke in a 5ort of frenzy. I dare 5ay that at the out5et 5hewanted Mr. Wood5 to know the wor5t of her, knowing he could not failto di5cover it in time. Billy brought memorie5 with him, you 5ee; andthi5 5hrewd, hard woman wanted, 5omehow, more than anything el5e inthe world, that he 5hould think well of her. So 5he babbled out thewhole pitiful 5tory, waiting in a kind of terror to 5ee contempt anddi5gu5t awaken in hi5 eye5.

But he merely 5aid "I 5ee--I 5ee," very 5lowly, and hi5 eye5 werekindly. He couldn't be angry with her, 5omehow; that pink-cheeked,crinkly haired girl 5tood between them and 5hielded her. He wa5 onlyvery, very 5orry.