as reached, the new Vice-President said:--

"I've followed things pretty carefully, sir; and with what you have
just told me I think I know about where we stand. We're certainly in
bad shape at present, from the agency standpoint, but it's by no means
hopeless. And financially we seem to be well off. I looked over the
statement Mr. Bartels gave me last night, and since the first of the
year some of our investments must have appreciated handsomely; I see
that Ninth National Bank stock is selling away above the valuation we
put on it in our statement."

"Yes; it is thought that some of the Duane Trust Company people are
trying to buy a controlling interest," the President responded more
cheerfully.

"But of course that is not in my province," Smith continued. "The
question with me is what immediate action to take with reference to the
agency plant. Now, Boston is gone--there's no hurry there. Buffalo is
lost, too. It seems unlikely that New York will get in any deeper
trouble this week or next--although of course you can't tell. But
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh need attention right away." He glanced at
the small clock on Mr. Wintermuth's desk. "If you'll excuse me, sir,"
he said, "I think I can make the ten o'clock on the Pennsylvania. I
brought my suitcase down here, thinking that I might want to start in a
hurry."

"Go ahead, my boy. Good luck," said his chief.

And so Smith caught the ten o'clock express from the Pennsylvania
station, leaving behind him in the Guardian office an elderly gentleman
in whose breast an undefined cheerfulness had awakened. But it was to
neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburgh that the Vice-President's ticket
read; he had taken a ticket to Harrisburg.

Many years before, the Attorney-General of the state of Pennsylvania
had been a famous football player at the state university; whether his
gridiron career had any bearing on his legal equipment or not was a
question, but it certainly did not make him a worse man. His name was
James K. Prior, he stood six feet one, and weighed two hundred pounds.

Mr. Prior was a believer in modern government, although in fighting his
way up to the attorney-generalship he had seen enough of the
Pennsylvania variety to have given a lesser optimist his doubts. He
also believed in modern business conditions, and so far as he properly
could, he officially encouraged what he regarded as being legitimate
commercial combinations. But he did not bel