"Because I--well, I didn't get that place at Balling and Feet's and I didn't have the heart to tell you I had failed again. I kept the hill just to deceive you. Heaven is my witness that I intended to pay it back to Joe, but the temptation was too great--I couldn't resist. Don't you understand now, dear? I wanted it for you and Helen; you don't know how I prized it. It meant so much. Why, when I started down town to buy the little dinner that I afterwards tried to steal--" "From me," she interrupted. "Yes, from you--I felt so happy in that I was sinning gently for you. Then I missed the bill and--well, the other followed; you know what I mean. You don't think I'm a real thief, do you, Kate?" "No, no, dear; forgive me!" she cried, with true wifely penitence. "I see it all and I love you for it, better than ever before." She squeezed his arm tightly and squeezed her eyelids vainly. "But you must never do it again," she cautioned, tenderly. He laughed again, that unwilling thief and pauper. "Oh, by the way, while I think of it, how did you happen to have that ten?" he asked, with cruel glee. She felt even guiltier than he and her voice was quite feeble as she answered: "Well, you remember when I was mending your trousers," she began. He gave her arm a tremendous pressure and interrupted: "But the hole wasn't in the pocket, dear, was it?" "Oh, you'll forgive me, won't you truly, Digby?" she almost wailed. "But you were stealing!" he said, solemnly, recalling her condemnatory words. "Don't say it that way, Digby," she protested, so faintly that his heart smote him and he changed the subject with almost ridiculous haste. "Hadn't we better go to another grocery and buy our Christmas dinner," he suggested. "No, indeed!" she exclaimed. "With what could we buy it!" "With my--your ten, I mean." "Digby Trotter, we may carry on our nefarious robberies as individuals, but I don't intend to form a partnership in the business. I don't approve of doing it collectively." "But what will we do with the money? Burn it?" "I thought you wanted to give it back to its owner." "But he won't miss it--not just yet, anyhow," he expostulated. "Neither shall you; you are never to see it again," she said, firmly, clasping the little purse defiantly. "Well, I guess you're right. We'll do without our turkey dinner. It's pretty rough, though, when we are nearer being millionaires than we have been in months," he said, regretfully. "I couldn't eat a mouthful of turkey bought with Joe Delapere's money," she said, and he felt his heart throb joyfully for some strange cause.