d that you would rather spend the ensuing year in foreign travel
with Thorpe Walling than do anything else?"

"I think I have, sir."

"Very well, my boy. While I cannot say that I consider your decision
the best that could be made, I have no valid objections to offer, and
am bound to grant as far as possible your reasonable desires. So you
have my consent to this scheme, if not my whole approval. When do you
plan to start?"

"Thorpe wishes to go at once."

"Then, if you will call here to-morrow morning at about this hour, I
will have arranged for your letter of credit, and anything else that
may suggest itself for making your trip a pleasant one."

"Thank you, sir," said Cabot, who, believing the interview to be ended,
turned to leave the room.

"By the way," continued Mr. Hepburn, "there is another thing I wish to
mention. Can you recommend one of your recent classmates for an
important mission, to be undertaken at once to an out-of-the-way part
of the world? He must be a young man of good morals, able to keep his
business affairs to himself, not afraid of hard work, and willing as
well as physically able to endure hardships. His intelligence and
mental fitness will, of course, be guaranteed by the Institute's
diploma. Our company is in immediate need of such a person, and will
engage him at a good salary for a year, with certain prospects of
advancement, if he gives satisfaction. Think it over and let me know
in the morning if you have hit upon one whom you believe would meet
those requirements. In the meantime please do not mention the subject
to any one."

Charged with this commission, and relieved that the dreaded interview
was ended, Cabot hastened uptown to a small secret society club of
which he was a non-resident member. There he wrote a note to Thorpe
Walling, accepting his invitation, and expressing a readiness to set
forth at once on their proposed journey. This done, he joined a group
of fellows who were discussing summer plans in the reading-room.

"What are you going in for, Grant?" asked one. "Is your summer to be
devoted to work or play?"

"Both," laughed Cabot. "Thorpe Walling and I are to take an
educational trip around the world, during which we hope to have great
fun and accomplish much work."

"Ho, ho!" jeered he who had put the question. "That's a good one. The
idea of coupling 'Torpid' Walling's name with anything that savors of
work. You'll have a good time fast enou