Caruthers turned and nodded his head toward the bank. "Is there any moral force over there? Did you notice any saintly precepts on his wall? I don't think you did. But wasn't there many a sign that said, 'get money'?" "Caruthers, you join with the rest of this town in the belief that McElwin is a great man. I don't. He is a community success, a neighborhood's strong man, but in the hands of the giants who live in the real world he is a weakling." "He is strong enough, though, not to tremble at the sound of a footstep at the door, and that's exactly what we sit here doing day after day. The joy of the hoped-for client is driven away by the fear of the collector." He was silent for a moment, and then he said: "I don't feel that there's any advantage in being hooked up with a saint." "I don't know," Lyman replied. "I never tried it." "I have," said Caruthers, looking at him. Lyman laughed and rubbed his hands together. "You are the only one that has ever insinuated such a compliment, if you mean that I am a saint. But I hold that there's quite a stretch between a saint and a man who has a desire simply to be honest. Saint--" He laughed again. "Why, the people where I was brought up called me a rake." "They were angels. But why don't you say where you were 'raised.' Why do you say 'brought up?' You were not brought up; you were raised." "Yes, that's true, I guess. But we raised vegetables where I was brought up." "Cabbages?" "Yes, some cabbages. Round about here, though, they appear to make pumpkins more of a specialty. But come a little nearer with your meaning concerning the saint. I take it that you are tired of the partnership. Am I right?" "Well," Caruthers spoke up, "we haven't done anything and we have no prospects." "You are right," said Lyman. "But I am poorer and you are about as well off as you were." "Do you mean to insinuate--" "Oh, I don't insinuate, though it's a habit among the people where I was brought up." "If you don't insinuate, what then? what do you mean?" "That you've got about all the money I had." "The devil, you say!" "I didn't mention the devil. I didn't think it was necessary to speak in the third person of one who is already present." Caruthers started and took his feet off the table. Lyman regarded him with a cool smile. "Lyman, I thought that we might have parted friends." "We can at least part as acquaintances," Lyman replied. "Until a few moments ago I was willing to stand a good deal from you; that part of your principles that I do not like I was willing to ascribe to a difference of opinion, but just now you called me a fool because I had refused to declare those books to be worth a hundred dollars. Up to that time we might have parted in reasonably good humor, but since then I haven't thought very well of you. And you'll have to take it back before you leave." "You say I'll _have_ to take it back." "Yes, that's what I said." "I never had to take anything back."