t National, to whose doors a great throng clung
stubbornly. The marshal and a policeman were busily occupied in an
effort to keep a way open for traffic. Observed by only a few idlers,
Tom Kirkwood emerged from the First National's directors' room and
walked across to where Amzi stood like a guardian angel before the door
of Montgomery's Bank. The briefest colloquy followed between Kirkwood
and his quondam brother-in-law.

"It's fixed, Amzi."

"Thunder, Tom; I didn't know you'd got back."

"Got in at one, and have been shut up with Holton ever since. He's seen
the light, and we've adjusted his end of the Sycamore business; I'm
taking part cash and notes with good collateral. The whole construction
crowd have settled, except Charlie, and he'll come in--he's got to. The
settlement makes the traction company good--it's only a matter now of
spending the money we've got back in putting the property in shape."

"That's good, Tom." And Amzi looked toward the courthouse clock. "Bill
say anything about me?"

"Yes; he most certainly did. He wants you to go over and take charge of
his bank!"

"Thunder! It's sort o' funny, Tom, how things come round."

Kirkwood smiled at Amzi's calmness. He drew from his pocket a folded
piece of paper.

"Here's your stock certificate, Amzi. Bill asked me to hand it to you.
It's in due form. He wanted me to ask you to be as easy on him as you
could. I think what he meant was that he'd like it to look like a
_bona-fide_, voluntary sale. Those ten shares give you the control, and
the Sycamore claim wiped out the rest of his holdings. I'm afraid," he
added, "there's going to be some trouble. Where's Phil?"

"Probably at the court-house hearing her Uncle Alec talk about the money
devils. We ought to let a few banks bust, just to encourage Alec.
Thunder! Phil's all right!"

CHAPTER XXIII

PLEASANT TIMES IN MAIN STREET

Phil, on her way to a tea, reached Main Street shortly before three
o'clock. Her forehandedness was due to the fact that her hostess (the
wife of the college president) had asked her to perform divers and
sundry preliminary offices pertaining to refreshments, and it had
occurred to Phil that it would be as well to drop in at the Bartletts'
to see whether Rose had sent the cakes she had contracted to bake for
the function, as the sophomore who delivered Rose's creations was
probably amusing himself at the try-out of baseball material on Mill's
Field.

Shopkeepers r