his incident; and he regretted it very much, believing it
would handicap him more or less in his work.

But the others soon came to like the new messenger exceedingly, he was
so clever, so obliging, and withal so bright; both tellers declared at
the close of the day's business that they had never known so little
trouble in getting their errands executed in a lucid manner.

At noon Dick bought himself a little luncheon, for he was too far away
from home to spend half an hour walking to and fro each day; after this
he meant to bring something with him; no matter if it were only bread
and butter, it would be much better than this "sawdust," as he
contemptuously called the cake he had purchased at the town bakery.

It was just at two o'clock that a most peculiar incident occurred, and
one that gave Dick considerable amusement.

He was waiting in the outer room for a paper which the president
intended sending to the post office to go by registered mail, when who
should come in but Ferd Graylock, accompanied by his father; who, as one
of the officers of the bank, went straight back to the room of the
president without ceremony, leaving his son in the public waiting-room.

Of course Ferd immediately spied Dick there and sauntered over, with his
customary air of importance.

"Hello! Morrison, what are you doing here? I didn't you know you were a
depositor in our bank," he said, with a patronizing manner that at first
made Dick grit his teeth, and then caused him to smile as a sudden
suspicion flashed across into his mind.

"Oh! I drift in occasionally to drop a few hundred thousand for safe
keeping," he replied, in a spirit of irony.

"What _are_ you here for anyway?" demanded Ferd, eyeing the other with a
sneer.

"Just waiting for something at present."

"Oh! I see, your mother has probably been making arrangements to borrow
on her tied-up investments. It's hard lines, old fellow. Now, you ought
to do something in the way of business, instead of spending your time
fishing, as I hear you are doing. I expect to branch out that way
myself. My old man says my school days are over, because my report was
so very depressing this term. He believes I would make a splendid
banker; and he's just gone back to consult with Gibbs about starting me
in here."

"Oh!" was all Dick trusted himself to say.

Apparently that position formerly occupied by the departed Charles was
not going around begging for applicants; nor was the cas