"I see," Mason began, almost huskily, "that I am more deeply in your debt than I thought. Mrs. Reilly told me that you wanted to pay my back dues. I don't know what to say to show my appreciation. I have never, in all my knocking about, met a man with such a kind heart." "Oh, don't mention that!" Charles replied. "It was nothing." "But it is--it is to me, you may be sure. I'll never forget it as long as I live. I want to serve you. I want to be your friend as you have been mine. I've come here now to tell you that"--Charles knew what he meant in full--"that I will stick to you through thick and thin. I think I understand the--the trouble you spoke of just now. You will need a friend now, and I will be that friend." Their eyes met. They both understood. "Yes, I need a friend," Charles said, thickly, "and it is good to find such a one in you. Some time I may be able to speak more freely about myself than I can now, but I will say that, as I see it, I am not--not quite as bad as one would think." "I know that. I'd bet my very life on it," Mason declared, warmly. "But let all that drop. Don't tell me anything. I know men, and I know you are pure gold. I want to help you and I will do it if it is possible." Turning back, he entered his own room. A wonderful sense of security, blended with a sense of new-found comradeship, descended on the lonely, pursued man. He now had an adviser, a friend whom he could trust, and it was one who was capable of suffering, who even now was suffering. That night he slept soundly, strangely free from the fear of arrest. CHAPTER XI When William Browne reached home, after his aimless walk which he had taken on leaving the bank that tumultuous morning, he endeavored to reach his room unnoticed by any member of the family, but on the landing of the second floor he met Celeste. She regarded him with a slow look of tentative surprise. "I've been worried", she said. "Worried, why?" he questioned, with a start. "Because Mr. Bradford telephoned me two hours ago that you had started home and that you were not feeling very well. He seemed worried, from the excited way he spoke. Of course I looked for you at once. How could I tell but that you were seriously ill somewhere?" "I thought a walk would do me good, and I took it," William bethought himself to say. "If I'd known he was telephoning I would have come directly home." He started to pass her, but, touching his arm, she detained him. Her cheeks were pale, her thin lips were quivering. "What _is_ the matter?" she demanded. "I told you I was not feeling very well," he answered, lamely, trying to meet her penetrating stare with an air of complete self-possession. "I've had a lot of head-work to do at night. I'm afraid I am near a breakdown. Bradford noticed it and advised me to come home." He passed her now, and went into his room. She followed close behind him, and when he turned he saw her.