your hand away and let him walk alone secure in the knowledge that his head is level and his thinking straight. That is the hour of reward, for in that hour he knows what your help has meant.
"And you talk of washing your hands of him. Have you ever heard boys say 'My old man has no use for me?' Great Christopher, man, suppose he washes his hands of you?"
The room fell into silence. A heightened color had come into Mrs. Quinby's cheeks. Her lips were moving without sound. When her husband glanced at her, a look of thoughtfulness deepened on his face.
"When does that Clud note fall due?" he asked at last.
"Monday," Tom Woods told him.
"Has Clud been to see Bert?"
"To-day."
"Did Clud threaten him?"
"Yes."
Mr. Quinby's hands opened and closed as though they itched to crush something. "How big is the note?"
"One hundred and seventy-five dollars."
The man took a check book from his pocket and wrote out a check for the amount. "Woods?" he asked, "will you do me a favor? Will you see that Clud gets this? If I go into his office, I'm liable to do him harm." He arose, leaned over his wife's shoulder, and kissed her on the