ticed about him was a
certain odd immobility of carriage, which was not in any way to be
mistaken for lassitude or lethargy; on the contrary, it reminded her of a
coiled spring. He was somewhat above the middle height, and he had
rather lean hands, and he wore no jewelry except an unobtrusive scarf
pin--thus far had Helen's assessment proceeded when a question from Mr.
Wintermuth recalled her.

"Would you like to start now to look us over?"

"If it is quite convenient to you," replied the girl, a shade stiffly.
This impassive young man, who seemed quite different from any one she had
met in her Boston set, was a little out of her calculations. She knew it
was unreasonable to expect Mr. Wintermuth himself to act as cicerone, but
just the same she was not entirely certain that she did not resent being
so definitely turned over to this youthfully unexpected substitute.
Probably Mr. Otto Bartels would have been initially more acceptable to
her.

"Show Miss Maitland everything--begin at the beginning, and don't leave
anything out," said the President, and dismissed them both with a
fatherly wave of the hand as he pressed the button that summoned his
stenographer.

Smith looked keenly at the girl as they walked slowly out into the
office; he was wondering what her object might be in this pilgrimage.
His mind flitted briefly over the ideas of muck-raking reporters and
inquisitive lady novelists; yet surely this self-possessed but quiet
young lady suggested nothing of either class, and besides, a niece of
Silas Osgood's could scarcely deserve suspicion. At the same time,
detecting in her manner what impressed him as a slightly Bostonian
attitude of mental hauteur, Smith remained wary.

"This is the Eastern Department," he said, stopping before the first long
map desk that stretched along the whole side of the room. Helen assented
politely to this information, and the young man led the way through the
other departments. Through the lower floors they went, Smith sketching
briefly the function of each department as they passed it.

"Here is the City Department," he said, as they reached the ground floor;
and for a little while they stood and watched Cuyler in his traffic with
the brokers. He was engaged in a spirited argument with a very small and
somewhat soiled person who insistently thrust upon Mr. Cuyler what that
gentleman had obviously no intention of accepting. Risk after risk was
declined, and the turns and _