ll his life was ground out between his teeth.

The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a
dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them.

It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went
higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured
them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there
was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones
whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been
asking for them.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM.

An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he
returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons
authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the
cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he
looked at the man.

"Is--is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the
manager.

Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation.

"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a
troubled voice. "Wait a moment."

Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of
an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for
cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he
told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly
staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he
had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and
two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash."

He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the
beginning of the end.

At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the
private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had
he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office,
Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with
the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty
daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young
lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she
had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without
some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret
romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever
have guessed.

For many a long day she had been secretly in lov