“You are a liar, an' you know it!” Pole growled. “You know you are a-doin' it beca'se you want to help me'n' my family, and, by the holy smoke, I won't let you. Thar! I'm flat-footed on that! _I won't let you_. Friendship is one thing an' takin' money from a friend is some'n' else. It's low down, I'm here to tell you. It's low down, even ef a body is on the ragged edge o' poverty, fer ever' man ort to work fer hisse'f.” “Look here, Pole, I get out of patience with you sometimes,” Floyd said, earnestly. “Now, answer this: don't you know that if you _did_ accept my offer that you would not let my interests suffer wilfully?” “Of course I do, damn it!” Pole retorted, almost angrily. “Ef I was workin' fer you in _any_ capacity I'd wear my fingers to the bone to do what was right by you.” “Well, there you are!” Floyd cried, triumphantly. “Wouldn't I be a pretty fool not to try to employ you, when not one man in ten thousand will be that conscientious? You've answered yourself, Pole. I'm going to have you on that job if I have to double the pay.” “Well, you won't git me, that's certain!” Pole retorted. “You are offerin' it to me fer no other reason than that we are friends, an' I'll be damned ef I take it.” “Look here, Pole Baker,” Floyd smiled, as he left his high stool, locked his arm in that of his companion, and drew him to the open door in the rear. “You have several times given me lectures that have done me more solid good than all the sermons I ever heard, and it's my time now.” “All right, shoot away!” Pole laughed. “The truth is, I feel derned mean about some o' the things I've said to you when I look back on 'em.” “Well, you've shown me many of my biggest faults, Pole, and I am going to dangle one of yours before your eyes. I've seen you, my friend, take money that your reason told you was needed by your wife and children, whom you love devotedly, and, in a sort of false pride, I've seen you spend it on men of the lowest order. You did it under the mistaken notion that it was your time to treat. In other words, you seemed possessed with the idea that you owed that crowd more than you did that tender, trusting little woman and her children.” “Damn it, you needn't remind me of that, Nelson Floyd! I know that as well as any man alive!” Pole's face was full, and his voice husky with suppressed emotion. “I know you know it, Pole, and here is something else you'll have to admit, and that is, that you are this minute refusing something that would fairly fill your wife with happiness, and you are doing it under the damnably false notion that such deals should not be made between friends. Why, man, friends are the only persons who ought to have intimate business relations. It is only friends who can work for mutual benefit.”