I was interrupted by the porter's clerk, who came with a telegram. It was from Muriel, and it said: _Please tell my aunt to return immediately._ _We have made up, and are very, very happy, and we shall both be delighted to see her._ I read it aloud, and she rose and said: “I'm so glad. Please pardon me for troubling you again.” I pardoned her, and she went away, and so another American girl had begun to toughen her skin and adjust her spirit to the feudal plan. The day we sailed a curious thing came to pass in a letter to Norris from Muggs in the handwriting of Mrs. Mullet. It said: _I hope you will be glad to learn that good luck has come to me. I thank God that I am able to return the last sum of money you gave me, with interest to date. My check for it is inclosed herewith. An old investment of mine, long supposed to be worthless, has turned out well. I have sold a part of my stock in it, and with the rest I hope to square accounts with you before long. My health is better, and within a week or so I expect to be married to the noblest woman in the world._ The man's dream had come to pass. His check was in the letter, and there was good money behind it. “I congratulate you,” I said to Norris when he showed me the letter. “You've really found an honest man inside a thief.” “Without your help it would have been impossible,” said he. “It's worth ten years of any man's life to have done it. I suppose there's an honest man inside every thief if we could only get at him.” “And no man is as bad as he seems, and, therefore, if you ever feel like shooting me--don't,” was my answer. “What luck that she didn't get hold of a count!” Betsey exclaimed. “She was one of the most willing marryers that ever crossed the sea.” “But she didn't know how to advertise,” I said. “Nobody knew that she had money. One personal in the London _Mail_ or the Paris _Herald_ would have crowded the Excelsior Hotel with impoverished noblemen.” “And yet I would have supposed that the worst of them would have been better than Muggs.” “Not I,” was my answer. “Both Muggs and the counts have been mere adventurers--trying to get something for nothing. Muggs knew that he was doing wrong. His offense was so bad that he couldn't doubt its badness. But the consciences of the counts never get any exercise. They don't know that idleness is a crime, that a bought husband is baser than a poodle-dog. They are absolutely convinced of their own respectability. For that reason the average thief has a far better chance of being faced about.”