346 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
they were built, upon an insecure basis. 
The likelihood of such a tax was remote. 
But Isabel did not know this, and the urgency 
of his need gave him words to colour his 
facts. 
In an hour she agreed with him that they 
must cut expenses. They planned it then 
and there. The last item they dealt with was 
Isabel’s dress allowance. It was cut down 
heavily, far more heavily than she had 
anticipated. She agreed, but the bleakness 
came again to her face, and remained there. 
He saw it, and the very soul of him quivered 
with pitiful protest that was reflected in 
his voice. Isabel, mentally occupied with 
her own ill-fortune, did not notice it. He 
took all she would yield, ruthlessly, greedily. 
Was it not for her sake — hers and Doreen’s ? 
Would they not think gratefully of him in 
the years to come for what he was doing 
now ? But it hurt — it hurt, 
“ Nobility of Character ” were the words 
on the banner. And bravely the banner flew 
that night -that first night of pain and 
misery, which yet was to be the least 
painful of all the nights and days to follow ! 
Almost immediately Paul Osmond realized 
that if he was to achieve his ambition before 
he died to leave three thousand pounds 
clear for his wife and child -he must cease to 
be honest,, morally honest, that is. He saw 
quite clearly that steadiness, reliability, cure, 
industry, and the kindred virtues which can 
be hired by anyone for a few pieces of silver 
a week were not in the least likely to avail 
him in his race against time, fie knew that 
London was seething with men who were 
prepared, even desperate, to render all these 
things and more for a lifetime in return for 
a subsistence- -sometimes barely that. 
So, working as he had never worked before, 
at the same time lie became shifty, everlast- 
ingly prowling, outside of business, for loot 
that could be taken legally. He specialized 
in the small life policies which the big com- 
panies offer without medical examination. 
Fortunately lie had passed his examination 
for the big three-hundred -pound policy as 
a “ first-class life/’ and that helped him. He 
discovered a doctor to whom the fee for 
the general report which serves instead of 
a strict examination report meant much. 
This man was enormously useful, and he 
secured a number of higli-premiumed policies. 
He gave up his position as manager and took 
one as traveller, which, working with a mad 
frenzy, he made worth far more than his 
managership. Gradually his fellow-travellers 
came to know him as a borrower of trifles — 
small change, which he forgot to repay. I-Ie 
kept a ten-pound note about him habitually, 
to serve as an excuse. He did not despise a.i 
loan of coppers, ft was characteristic of the 
man that he borrowed nothing that was * 
likely to prove remotely serious for the lender, , 
and he kept detailed notes of each loan so 
that he could repay if he were, by a miracle, 
ever in a position to do so. He grew a little 
shabby, and his face became sharp with a 
touch of the wolf about his expression, and 
a predatory gleam made itself manifest in 
his eyes. Nothing was too small for him to 
snap up, nothing too impossible to try for. 
He screwed orders from firms that his em- 
ployers had written off as impossible. When 
they asked him how he did it, he said, “ By 
sheer hard work — desperate work,” and 
asked for a rise. He always got it, because 
he had estimated to a farthing the exact 
value of the new business he had introduced. 
'■ lie's good but greedy,” said his principals, 
ruefully. f£ Leave him alone.” 
They did not know the lengths to which 
he went to get more business — the amazing 
perception, faculty of judgment, and intuition 
he developed, the sleights to which he 
resorted. 
Gradually he lost friends. Men did not 
care for his company. He was money-mad, 
and occasionally showed it. Besides, he was 
depressing. Behind that wolf-gleam in his 
eyes was misery, and often it predominated. 
Men would not stand that long. Also, he 
had agencies — scores of them ; out of business 
he was always worrying them to buy some- 
thing, or do something which cost money. 
In time he found himself isolated in 
business. His conjreres nodded to him and 
avoided him. 
lie eared nothing — for his hoard was 
growing, growing, ft went up surprisingly 
-leaping up. He was amazed at the way it 
increased. He would put away his bank- 
book with a sort of breathlessness, and wonder 
at the ease of it — providing one wgs willing 
to give up popularity and the comforts that 
were really little luxuries. He soon grew 
indifferent to the reserved attitude of his 
business associates. 
It was at home, and through his home life, 
that he suffered the most exquisite agony. 
They had moved to a cheap house at 
Karlsfield — so cheap that Isabel had never 
even attempted to make it “ nice.” There 
was never any lack of good food, or any 
other necessity. But the home life was 
stripped bare of everything but necessities. 
The larger furniture he sold — Isabel and 
