it might tide me over until the cost of livin' comes
down. And everybody says they ARE comin' down. Mr. Bangs, can you see
any way out for me? Can you think of any one who would know about--Oh,
my soul and body! Look OUT!"

She sprang to her feet with a little scream. Her lodger's rocking-chair,
with its occupant, had suddenly tilted over backward. Fortunately his
proximity to the wall had prevented a complete overturn, but there sat
Galusha, the back of the chair against the wall and his knees elevated
at a very acute angle. The alarming part of it was that he made no
effort to regain his equilibrium, but remained in the unusual, not to
say undignified, posture.

"What IS the matter?" demanded Miss Phipps, seizing him by the arm and
pulling him forward. "What was it? What happened?"

Galusha's face was beaming. His eyes shone with excitement.

"It--it struck me at that moment," he cried. "At that very moment."

"Struck you?" Miss Phipps looked about the room. "What struck you?
Where? Are you hurt?"

Mr. Bangs' beaming smile broadened.

"I mean the idea struck me," he declared. "Dear me, how odd that it
didn't do so before. Yes, he is exactly the right person. Exactly. Oh,
dear me, this is VERY good!"

Martha said afterward that she never in her life felt more like shaking
a person.

"What do you mean?" she demanded. "What was it that struck you?"

"Why, Cousin Gussie," announced Galusha, happily. "Don't you see? He
will be EXACTLY the one."

CHAPTER X

When, at last--and it took some time--Martha Phipps was actually
convinced that her lodger's "Cousin Gussie" was no less a person than
the senior partner of the famous banking firm of Cabot, Bancroft and
Cabot, she was almost as excited as he.

"Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot," she repeated. "Why, everybody knows about
them! They are the biggest bankers in New England. I have heard father
say so ever so many times. And this Mr. Cabot, is he really your
cousin?"

Galusha nodded. "Oh, yes," he said. "He is my cousin--really he is. I
have always called him Cousin Gussie; that is," he added, "except when I
worked for him, of course. Then he didn't like to have me."

"Worked for him?"

"Yes, in his office, in the--ah--banking house, you know."

"Do you mean to say you used to work for Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot? Were
you a banker?"

Galusha shook his head. "No," he said. "Dear me, no! But once I tried to
be."

"Oh! And you gave it up?"

"_I_ was gi