t's fried chicken," announced the boy, with a grin, as Alec went
down the step to meet him. "Mother said to eat it while it was hot.
She knew you all would be too tired to cook much to-night."

Without waiting to hear Alec's thanks, he scampered down the path
again and squeezed through the gap in the fence made by a missing
picket. Alec carried the dish round the house to the kitchen, where
Philippa was putting the finishing touches to the supper, in her
aunt's stead.

"Did you know that Uncle Dick has come?" she asked, joyfully. "Oh,
how good of Mrs. Pine to send the chicken! We didn't have anything
for supper but coffee and rolls and eggs. He's certainly bringing
good things in his wake. How delicious that chicken does smell! Let's
take it as a good omen, Alec, a forerunner of better days. He'll
surely get you out of your slough of despond."

"Who, Flip? The chicken or Uncle Dick?" asked Alec, in his old
jesting way, giving one of her long braids a tweak as he passed. A
heavy load seemed to lift itself from Philippa's heart at this sign
of Alec's return to his merry old self. All during supper she kept
glancing at him, for, absorbed in their guest's interesting
reminiscences, he seemed to have forgotten the grievances he had
brooded over so long, and laughed and joked as he had not done for
weeks.

To their great regret, Uncle Dick had to leave that night. Alec
walked to the station with him, feeling that he was being subjected
to a very close cross-examination as to his capabilities and
preferences. The train was late, and as they sat in the waiting-room,
the man fell into a profound silence, his hands thrust into his
pockets and his brows drawn together in deep thought.

Finally he said: "You want to be a banker, like your grandfather.
Well, I can't manage that, my boy. My influence doesn't lie in that
direction. The best I can do is to get you in with the firm that
manufactures all the shoes I sell. It is a big concern. The general
manager of the factory at Salesbury is a good friend of mine, and I
happen to know he is on the lookout for a reliable young fellow to
put in training as his assistant. He is constantly giving somebody a
trial, but nobody measures up to his requirements. Whoever takes it
must go through a regular apprenticeship in the factory and learn the
business from the ground up. According to his ideas, you'd not be
fitted until you'd tried your hand at every piece of machinery in the
factory