What odds if a man suffered a few hours of physical agony, if it resulted in supplying him with several thousand dollars? He now clearly appreciated that had his experiment been less successful he would have been grievously disappointed; the problem would have remained an obstacle to his imagination, and his dangerous, although alluring, fancies needs must be postponed. On the whole he felt rather proud of his achievement. All day the great idea kept pounding through his head. He had it in his power to obtain more than two thousand, possibly three thousand, dollars without being suspected. His temples throbbed and ached as the thought assailed him. Once or twice during the afternoon he was called to the baggage-room to check a trunk. Each time his gaze involuntarily sought the coil of new rope hanging behind the door. It was well known to students of crime that yeggmen pick up their tools on the premises of the place robbed, traveling unhampered by the burglar’s usual outfit. How natural that they should appropriate a piece of this very cord to bind him with! That would necessitate the shattering of the lock, but the door was old and weak and a well-delivered kick would smash it loose. He had no appetite for supper and heard but little of the foreman’s gossip. “I was saying I’d like to play you a game of crib tonight if you feel in trim,” repeated the foreman. “Crib? Oh, of course. Sure, Danny. I’ll play crib. I’ll be home right after the up-train pulls out. I’ll be home in good season,” eagerly promised Parsly, suddenly realizing the foreman might get impatient waiting, might take alarm at his boarder failure to reach home, and go in search of him. That would eliminate long, slow hours of torture on the office floor. “Yes, I’ll be home right after the nine-o’clock goes up,” he said. “I won’t keep you waiting.” While returning through the woods it suddenly came home to him that he had planned to steal the money. For a moment he felt strongly moved and made a feeble pretense of denying the accusation. Then with a drawn face he muttered: “---- it! Why sidestep? It’s been in my nut for days. I’ll never get another chance like this--so much dough and the yeggs near.” He sought to distract his mind by bitterly assailing the railroad and express companies and assuring himself the thought would never have occurred to him had he been paid something beyond a starvation wage for a fourteen-hour day. It really wasn’t robbery. Laws were made by men. It was reprisal. When it came to the ethics of it--only Parsly didn’t know what the word meant--he’d earned the money, at least a part of it. The night connived at his purpose, blowing up cold and desolate and on the verge of a storm. By the time the branch pulled in, the platform was streaming rivulets from the heavy downpour, and the express agent made the office on the run.