n conceive of another reason why a good man should not harbor such
serpents in disguise," he said, in the pleasant, half-playful tone which
the conversation had latterly assumed.

"Let us have it by all means," answered Mr. Stephens. "I am
court-martialed, I perceive and may as well have all the shots at once."

"Why, sir, what possible right can you have to beguile an innocent youth
like myself to your table, and tempt his unsuspecting ignorance with a
quivering bit of jelly which, had he known its ingredients, such are his
principles and his resolves, and I may add such is his horror of the
fiend, that he would almost rather have had his tongue plucked out by
the roots than to have touched it?"

The sentence, began playfully, was finished in terrible earnestness,
with trembling voice and quivering lip. There was no concealing the fact
that this subject in all its details was a solemn one to him. Mr.
Stephens watched for a moment the flushed earnest face. This man without
wife or children, without home other than his wealth and his housekeeper
furnished him, was fast taking his confidential clerk into his inner
heart. He looked at him a moment, then glanced down at the table. Mr.
Ryan's dish of jelly and his own still remained untouched. He spoke
impulsively:

"Ryan, are you partial to that ill-fated dish beside you?"

"Not at all," answered that gentleman, laughingly. "I have conceived
quite a horror for the quivering, suspicious-looking lump."

Then Mr. Stephens' hand was on the bell.

"Thompson," he said to the servant who answered his summons, "you may
remove the jellies." And the brisk waiter looked startled and confused
as he proceeded to obey the order.

"They are all right," explained Mr. Stephens, kindly, "only we have
decided to dispense with them." And as the door closed upon the
retreating servant the host added, turning to Theodore:

"I will dispense with them as regards my table from this time forth.
This is my concession to your beloved cause."

Such a bright glad look of thanks and admiration and love as his young
clerk bestowed upon him in answer to this Mr. Stephens never forgot.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE "THREE PEOPLE" MEET AGAIN.

It is not to be supposed, because nothing has been said of intervening
days, that the events recorded in the last two chapters followed each
other in quick succession. In reality, when Theodore Mallery bought his
first suit of ready-made clothing he had bee