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58
THE CLOSING NET

tine and I were well mated; creatures of the same clay. We were of the earth, earthy. Heaven was not for my kind, and it seemed to me that if I were to go clawing after it worse things might happen, not only to me but to this sweet woman who was ready to sacrifice her own position, if need be, to help me. The Polish girl and I were of, and belonged to, the Under-World. We were destroyers; tearers down of the established order of affairs.

So I turned and read the letter through again, and then, with a curse, I held a lighted match to one corner, and it seemed to me that with it burned all of my new-found future.