"When the tired one goes to bed, you can come down. She goes to bed at
ten, I know, and I shall not be in until about half-past ten. I don't
want Dave to know--well, because I don't. I don't want Alice to know,
because I dislike Alice very much."

"Really, Kathleen, you ought not to speak like that."

"Well, I do, and I can't help myself. Will you do what I want? Here, do
you think you'd like this in your possession?"

As Kathleen spoke she held out a golden sovereign in the palm of her
little hand.

"I don't want to be bribed."

"It isn't bribery really; it is paying you for giving me a great
convenience. I must go out on important business. I want to help those
who are down-trodden and distressed. Will you do what I want, Ben--will
you, dear Ben? You know I like you so much. Will you--will you?"

Of course, Ben fought against Kathleen's rather wicked suggestion; of
course in the end he yielded. When he finally got up to his attic to
thumb over his well-worn lesson-books he had Kathleen's golden sovereign
in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it; he turned it round and
round and examined it all over. He rubbed it lovingly against his
freckled cheek, held it until it got warm in the palm of his hand, and
then put it back in his pocket and jingled it against a couple of
pennies which were its only companions.