l come. All my life in the
business, Evan, I've seen instances, like this, of the bank's
mercilessness. I'm sick and tired of it. It's you who are lucky, my
lad, and I who am unlucky."

"Still," said Evan, "it's an awful thing to feel that you're suspected
of being a thief."

Robb's eyes flamed.

"They don't think it," he said sharply; "the rascals know you are
innocent! It is not their opinion that hurts, Evan, but their
influence--I hope--" He did not finish it. "I wonder," he continued,
"if these fellows know what it is to hear their hearts beat? They
claim to be big men; they make a great display of affection among their
own folk, but when it comes to showing humane consideration for
someone, they can't do it. They only invest friendship or justice
where it will, like the money they invest, bring big returns. The
clerk is only one of the many who don't count with them. What does he
matter to them?--they wear him out and pay him out for gain."

The ex-manager spoke with emphasis and his lips puckered as after a
bitter expectoration.

"I hope," said Evan, "that some day you'll get a chance to quit."

"That sounds good, coming from you," replied Robb. "I only live on
that hope myself. Sometimes it seems forlorn enough, though.... By
Jove! it's after nine; I must beat it. I'll see you at dinner
to-night, eh?"

"All right."

Evan watched the old clerk down the avenue, and he remembered the first
time he had seen that gait. It was in Mt. Alban on a May day, too.
The juvenile bankman had pictured himself walking down the main street
of some town inside a manager's clothes and shoes--just like Mr. Robb.

But thinking made Evan's head thump. He decided it would be a good
idea to catch a McCaul car and connect with the ferry for Island Park.
He boarded the car, together with one or two women and a little girl
carrying a lunch indigestible anywhere but on Centre Island.

The beauty and quietude of Toronto's rest resort and the sparkling
freshness of the surrounding water, revived Evan a little; but a
stronger liquid than H2O was around his brain somewhere, and the Island
became uncomfortable. In spite of the pleasant environment he found
himself unable to take his mind off the bank and what it had done to
him. Early in the afternoon, he suddenly imagined that he could endure
no longer to sit and worry, so he took the ferry back to the city and
went to the office of the _Star_.

After inserting