lake.
Something in his action interested the junior.

"Darn it," he said, "I don't know why I ever left home. I could have
gone through all the colleges in the country if I had wanted to."

"Oh, well," said Nelson, carelessly, "a fellow gets certain experience
in the bank that college men know nothing about. They get the baby
taken out of them. They have to live in lonesome burgs and make up
with uninteresting strangers. I suppose it all helps make a man of
them."

"Give us a cig," said Henty; then--"Don't forget the girls, either.
They're a great education."

Nelson was silent: he had graduated from that sort of thing.

"A fellow shouldn't string them, though, Austin," he said, thoughtfully.

To give valuable advice on matters of love one must have experience,
but to get experience one must suffer and make others suffer;
consequently, love-advice is undesirable from both experienced and
inexperienced. In the first instance it makes the adviser
inconsistent, and in the second case it is valueless.

"I've made up my mind I'll never trick the dear creatures," said A. P.

"You will if you stay in the bank."

"How's that?"

"Well, for instance, when you leave here, what will become of Miss
Munn? You can't marry her till you draw at least one thousand dollars
a year. Very soon now head office will be moving you; you'll gradually
forget Hilda; you'll have to."

The big junior blushed, licked his lips, and sighed, but made no reply.
For the rest of the walk he seemed sunk in reverie.

Inspection over, Penton walked up and down town where all might see.
When he appeared in the main office his manner was overbearing. He
placed heavier emphasis than ever on his "my's," and flattered the
mayor to the point of idiocy, and cursed his current account with a vim
foreign to his old self.

Then gradually he settled into his chair again. There came a lull in
office work, and in general business, for the farmers were seeding.
Penton began to drag at his upper lip. The film over his eyes
thickened, and his brooding deepened.

A silent messenger came from Toronto:

"Instruct Mr. E. Nelson to report at our King Street office, Toronto,
at once.

"(Signed) I. CASTLE."

The teller was engrossed in work when Penton handed him the letter. He
read it dazedly, a moment, then his face glowed with excitement.

"I won't be able to swipe any more silver," he said, facetiously.

The manager did not reply to the l