ncentrated upon humdrum business
affairs. He laid down the papers, and sighed.

He began to day-dream again. In the whole category of feminine names
was there ever one so pretty as Ruth? And surely never did a girl, in
both form and feature, so fit the name.

Suddenly he realized that the door of the private office was open and
that Grimshaw's head was thrust out.

"Hey! Come here a minute, Allen," he called.

There was a note of trouble in the old man's voice, and Tyke's face
expressed some strong emotion. Alert on the instant, Drew rose to obey
his employer's summons.

CHAPTER III

HARD HIT

Drew was not surprised to find that his employer was not alone. A man
whom he now recognized as the agent of the estate controlling the
building was seated at one end of the desk and was drumming upon it
with his fingers.

Tyke was hunched up in his big revolving chair with a look of agitation
on his face. His hands were clenching and unclenching rapidly. It was
evident that something much out of the ordinary had occurred to rob him
of his usual placidity.

He motioned Drew to a seat.

"Well, Allen," began Grimshaw, in a voice that he tried in vain to
render calm, "it's come at last. We've got to get out of the old
place."

"What?" cried the young man; yet this only confirmed the suspicion
which his recognition of the visitor had suggested.

"We're sorry, of course," purred the agent, who had tried to break the
unwelcome news to the old man as easily as possible. "But, of course,
you know that you held the place on the distinct understanding that we
should take possession at will."

"I ain't denying that, Mr. Blake," admitted Tyke. "There's isn't
anything underhand or wrong about what you're doing. I kept on here
with my eyes wide open and I'm ready to take my medicine. But all the
same, it comes as a shock. I'd hoped to hold on to the old craft as
long as I lived."

"I wish you could, both for your sake and ours," returned Blake. "We
haven't a tenant anywhere who pays his rent more promptly and bothers
us less about repairs. But the trustees of the estate have had an
offer from parties who want to put up a more modern building on this
site, and it was too good to decline."

"When are they going to start?" asked Drew.

"They're in something of a hurry," replied the agent. "You see this is
the right time of the year for construction work, and they want to have
the foundations laid by fa