st
talking it over with a pal to-day, a very good comrade whom I used to
know in the West, and who pulled me out of No Man's Land where I would
have been lying yet if he hadn't thought more of me than he did of
himself--I was talking it over with him to-day, and we agreed that
business isn't worth the effort. Fancy sitting behind a desk, wondering
about the stock market, when you've been accustomed to leaning up
against a parapet wondering where the next shell is going to burst! If
that is not from the sublime to the ridiculous, it is at least from the
vital to the inconsequential. You can't expect men to take a jump like
that."

"No, not as a jump," Murdoch agreed. "They'll have to move down
gradually. But they must remember that life depends quite as much on
wheat-fields as it does on trenches, and that all the machinery of
commerce and industry is as vital in its way as is the machinery of war.
They must remember that, or instead of being at the end of our troubles
we will find ourselves at the beginning."

"I suppose," Grant conceded, "but it all seems so unnecessary. No doubt
you have been piling up more money to be a problem to my conscience."

"Your peculiar conscience, I might almost correct, sir. Your
responsibilities do seem to insist upon increasing. Following your
instructions I put the liquid assets into Government bonds. Interest,
even on Government bonds, has a way of working while you sleep. Then,
you may remember, we were carrying a large load of certain steel stocks.
These I did not dispose of at once, with the result that they, in
themselves, have made you a comfortable fortune."

"I suppose I should thank you for your foresight, Murdoch. I was rather
hoping you would lose my money and so relieve me of an embarrassing
situation. What am I to do with it?"

"I don't know, sir, but I feel sure you will use it for some good
purpose. I was glad to get as much of it together for you as I did,
because otherwise it might have fallen to people who would have wasted
it."

"Upon my word, Murdoch, that smacks of my own philosophy. Is it possible
even you are becoming converted?"

"Come, Mr. Grant; come, everybody!" a cheerful voice called from behind
the sliding doors which shut off the dining-room. The fragrant smell of
coffee was already in the air, and as Grant took his seat Mrs.
Murdoch declared that for once she had decided to defy all the laws of
digestion.

At the table their talk dribbled out i