have you?"

"Four," said the officer, looking at him in surprise.

"I'm a little deaf," explained Hugh, recovering himself quickly. "I
thought you said ten."

"No; the oldest is ten. Yes; they're worth slaving for. I've hung onto
this job all these years just because it might go hard with 'em if I
gave it up and tried something else."

Hugh looked into the sober, serious face and a lump flew to his throat.
It struck him as probable that this man was to lose his position the
next morning. A sort of pity assailed Ridgeway for an instant, but he
put it away resolutely.

After all, he had Grace to think of and not the children of the
plain-clothes man.

They had a second drink and it fired his brain with a gleeful desire for
action. The plain-clothes man shivered as he swallowed the fiery stuff.
He looked thin and haggard and ill, a condition which Hugh, in his
hatred, had failed to observe until this moment.

"You certainly have a home and some money saved up by this time," he
said, trying to suppress the eager gleam in his eyes.

"We've had lots of sickness and it's taken nearly everything. Besides,
I've been too d---- honest. It's my own fault that I haven't a big wad
put away."