day engender.

"I would take good care of myself, Doctor," he said, "and the day after
to-morrow might I could go downtown, maybe?"

"The day after to-morrow!" Doctor Eichendorfer exclaimed. "Why, you
wouldn't be downtown for a month yet."

"The idea!" Babette cried indignantly. "As if the boys couldn't look
after the place without you! What d'ye want to go downtown for at all?"

"What d'ye mean, what do I want to go downtown for at all?" Sam
demanded sharply, and Miss Babette Gembitz blushed; whereupon Sam rose
from his chair and stood unsteadily on his feet.

"You are up to some monkey business here--all of you!" he declared.
"What is it about?"

Babette exchanged glances with Doctor Eichendorfer, who shrugged his
shoulders in reply.

"Well, if you want to know what it is, popper," she said, "I'll tell
you. You're a very sick man and the chances are you'll never go
downtown again." Doctor Eichendorfer nodded his approval and Sam sat
down again.

"So we may as well tell you right out plain," Babette continued; "the
boys have given out to the trade that you've retired on account of
sickness--and here it is in the paper and all."

She handed Sam a copy of the _Daily Cloak and Suit Record_ and
indicated with her finger an item headed "Personals." It read as
follows:

NEW YORK.--Samuel Gembitz, of S. Gembitz & Sons, whose serious
illness was reported recently, has retired from the firm, and the
business will be carried on by Max Gembitz, Lester Gembitz, and
Sidney Gembitz, under the firm style of Gembitz Brothers.

As Sam gazed at the item the effect of one week's surreptitious feeding
was set at naught, and once more Babette and Doctor Eichendorfer
assisted him to his bed. That night he had neither the strength nor the
inclination to make his accustomed raid on the ice-box, nor could he
resist the administration of Doctor Eichendorfer's tablets; so that the
following day found him weaker than ever. It was not until another week
had elapsed that his appetite began to assert itself; but when it did
he convalesced rapidly. Indeed, at the end of the month, Doctor
Eichendorfer permitted him to take short walks with Babette. Gradually
the length of these promenades increased until Babette found her entire
forenoons monopolized by her father.

"Ain't it awful!" she said to Sam one Sunday morning as they paced
slowly along Lenox Avenue. "I am so tied down."

"You ain't tied down," Sam replied ung