receives this letter when he comes in from the woods to-night,"
she replied. Daney was frankly amazed.

"Bless my soul," he blurted, "why do you entrust me with it? Would it
not have been far simpler to have mailed it?"

"Not at all, Mr. Daney. In the first place, the necessity for writing
it only developed an hour ago, and in order to be quite certain Mr.
McKaye would receive it this evening, I would have had to place a
special-delivery stamp upon it. I did not have a special-delivery
stamp; so, in order to get one, I would have had to go to the
post-office and buy it. And the instant I did that, the girl on duty
at the stamp-window would have gone to the mail-chute to get the
letter and read the address. So I concluded it would be far more
simple and safe to entrust my letter to you. Moreover," she added, "I
save ten cents."

"I am very greatly obliged to you, Nan," Daney answered soberly. "You
did exactly right," Had she conferred upon him a distinct personal
favor, his expression of obligation could not have been more sincere.
He took a large envelop of the Tyee Lumber Company, wrote Donald's
name upon it, enclosed Nan's letter in this large envelop, and sealed
it with a mighty blow of his fist. "Now then," he declared, "what
people do not know will not trouble them. After you go, I'll place
this envelop in Don's mail-box in the outer office. I think we
understand each other," he added shrewdly.

"I think we do, Mr. Daney."

"Splendid fellow, young Donald! Thundering fine boy!"

"I agree with you, Mr. Daney. If Donald has a fault, it is his
excessive democracy and loyalty to his friends. Thank you so much, Mr.
Daney. Good-afternoon."

"Not at all--not at all! All this is quite confidential, of course,
otherwise you would not be here." He bowed her to the door, opened it
for her, and bowed again as she passed him. When she had gone, he
summoned the young lady whom Nan had addressed as "Hetty."

"Miss Fairchaild," he said, "'phone the local sales-office and tell
them to deliver a load of fire-wood to the Brent house at the Sawdust
Pile."

Two minutes later, the entire office force knew that Nan Brent had
called to order a load of fire-wood, and once more the world sagged
into the doldrums.

XI

At six o'clock Donald came in from the logging-camp. Daney made it his
business to be in the entry of the outer office when his superior took
his mail from his box, and, watching narrowly, thought he obs