"_Always together in sunshine and rain.
Facing the weather_--"

"Good morning, Patsy," said the chief clerk, looking up as Patsy paused
at the gate, removed his hat and bowed two or three short quick bows
with his head without bowing his body.

"I beg your pardon," said Patsy, "I thought you were alone."

"Well, I am alone."

"No you're not--I'm here. Always together--"

"Come! Come! Patsy don't get funny this morning."

"Get funny! how can I get funny when I'm already funny? I was born
funny--they had fun with me at the christening, and I expect they'll
have the divil's own time with me at the wake. Always--"

"Sh! Sh!--Be quiet," said the secretary, nodding his head and his thumb
in the direction of the door of the private office.

"Is the governor in?" asked Patsy.

"Yes."

"Now that's lucky for me, for I wanted to ask a favor and I want it
to-day, and if the governor was not in you would say, 'I'll have to see
the governor;' then when I came back you would say 'The governor has
left the office, and I forgot it,' but now that the governor is here you
can do it yourself. I want to go to Council Bluffs."

"All right, Patsy, you can go if you can persuade those friends of yours
to allow us to run a train."

"On the Q?"

"That's the only line we control."

"Not on your salary."

"Then you can't go," said the clerk, as he resumed the work before him.

"What's the matter with the North Western?" asked Patsy in an earnest,
pleading tone.

"You ought to know that we can't give passes over a competing line."

"I do know it, but you can give me a letter over there. Just say:
'Please give Patsy Daly transportation, Chicago to Council Bluffs and
return;' that'll do the business. You might add a paragraph about me
being an old and trusted employee and--"

"A bold and mistrusted striker, Patsy, would be nearer the card."

"Now don't bring up unpleasant recollections," said Patsy with a frown
that didn't make him look as cross as some men look when they laugh: "It
will be a neat way of showing that the Q is big enough to be good to her
old employees, even if her stock is a little down. What do you say--do I
get the pass--does mother see her railroad boy to-night?"

The door that was marked "Private" opened slowly and the general manager
came in. The chief clerk shuffled the letters while Patsy made a
desperate effort to look serious and respectful.

"What brings you here, Patsy?" asked the head of