. There was shame in his voice. "I
forgot all about it!"

The secretary regarded him with an expression of amazement.

"All about what?" she questioned.

Dick assumed an air vastly more confidential than at any time hitherto.
He leaned toward the secretary's desk, and spoke with a new seriousness
of manner:

"Sadie, have you any money? I'm broker My taxi' has been waiting outside
all this time."

"Why, yes," the secretary said, cheerfully. "If you will----"

Dick was discreet enough to turn his attention to a picture on the
wall opposite while Sarah went through those acrobatic performances
obligatory on women who take no chances of losing money by carrying it
in purses.

"There!" she called after a few panting seconds, and exhibited a flushed
face.

Dick turned eagerly and seized the banknote offered him.

"Mighty much obliged, Sadie," he said, enthusiastically. "But I must
run. Otherwise, this wouldn't be enough for the fare!" And, so saying,
he darted out of the room.

CHAPTER III. ONLY THREE YEARS.

When, at last, the owner of the store entered the office, his face
showed extreme irritation. He did not vouchsafe any greeting to the
secretary, who regarded him with an accurate perception of his mood.
With a diplomacy born of long experience, in her first speech Sarah
afforded an agreeable diversion to her employer's line of thought.

"Mr. Hastings, of the Empire store, called you up, Mr. Gilder, and asked
me to let him know when you returned. Shall I get him on the wire?"

The man's face lightened instantly, and there was even the beginning of
a smile on his lips as he seated himself at the great mahogany desk.

"Yes, yes!" he exclaimed, with evident enthusiasm. The smile grew in
the short interval before the connection was made. When, finally,
he addressed his friend over the telephone, his tones were of the
cheerfulest.

"Oh, good morning. Yes, certainly. Four will suit me admirably....
Sunday? Yes, if you like. We can go out after church, and have luncheon
at the country club." After listening a moment, he laughed in a pleased
fashion that had in it a suggestion of conscious superiority. "My dear
fellow," he declared briskly, "you couldn't beat me in a thousand years.
Why, I made the eighteen holes in ninety-two only last week." He laughed
again at the answer over the wire, then hung up the receiver and pushed
the telephone aside, as he turned his attention to the papers neatly
arranged on