himself of a subtle form of rebuke by emphasizing his
generosity.

"Have the cashier send my usual five hundred to the Charities
Organization Society," he ordered. With this new evidence of his
generous virtue, the frown passed from his brows. If, for a fleeting
moment, doubt had assailed him under the spur of the secretary's words,
that doubt had now vanished under his habitual conviction as to his
sterling worth to the world at large.

It was, therefore, with his accustomed blandness of manner that he
presently acknowledged the greeting of George Demarest, the chief of the
legal staff that looked after the firm's affairs. He was aware without
being told that the lawyer had called to acquaint him with the issue in
the trial of Mary Turner.

"Well, Demarest?" he inquired, as the dapper attorney advanced into the
room at a rapid pace, and came to a halt facing the desk, after a lively
nod in the direction of the secretary.

The lawyer's face sobered, and his tone as he answered was tinged with
constraint.

"Judge Lawlor gave her three years," he replied, gravely. It was plain
from his manner that he did not altogether approve.

But Gilder was unaffected by the attorney's lack of satisfaction over
the result. On the contrary, he smiled exultantly. His oritund voice
took on a deeper note, as he turned toward the secretary.

"Good!" he exclaimed. "Take this, Sarah." And he continued, as the girl
opened her notebook and poised the pencil: "Be sure to have Smithson
post a copy of it conspicuously in all the girls' dressing-rooms, and in
the reading-room, and in the lunch-rooms, and in the assembly-room." He
cleared his throat ostentatiously and proceeded to the dictation of the
notice:

"Mary Turner, formerly employed in this store, was to-day sentenced to
prison for three years, having been convicted for the theft of goods
valued at over four hundred dollars. The management wishes again to
draw attention on the part of its employees to the fact that honesty is
always the best policy.... Got that?"

"Yes, sir." The secretary's voice was mechanical, without any trace of
feeling. She was not minded to disturb her employer a second time this
morning by injudicious comment.

"Take it to Smithson," Gilder continued, "and tell him that I wish him
to attend to its being posted according to my directions at once."

Again, the girl made her formal response in the affirmative, then left
the room.

Gilder brought forth