pily. "We business
people have to consider these problems very deeply," she said, dropping
her voice. "I will tell you in the morning what I decide."

A heavy step upon the gravel walk announced Gorham's arrival. Greeting
them affectionately, he placed one arm about the waist of each and
turned from one to the other, looking silently into their faces. "My
inspirations," he exclaimed, smiling; and as Eleanor glanced
triumphantly at Alice, the girl realized the force of the words the
elder woman had spoken in an earlier conversation. Here--in them--rested
that power which stimulated the execution of affairs of which the whole
world talked!

"I have news for you," Gorham said, turning to Alice. "Mr. Allen
Sanford, late chauffeur, is now the right arm of the Consolidated
Companies."

"Do you really mean it!" she cried, transferring her caresses to her
father. "Have you actually given him a chance? Oh, I'm so happy about
it!"

"I really mean it," Gorham replied, laughingly, amused by the girl's
enthusiasm; "and by doing so, I presume I have incurred the eternal
enmity of one Stephen Sanford."

"How did it happen, Robert?" Eleanor inquired, hardly less pleased than
Alice.

"The boy has some promising stuff in him," was the reply. "He has more
to get over than most youngsters have; but his very impulsiveness,
properly controlled, may prove an asset. The young rascal almost sold me
a set of the _Home Travellers' Volumes_, and with all his amateurishness
he showed a good deal of skill, and an unlimited amount of imagination.
I've wanted to give him a chance ever since Stephen threw him over, and
now I'm going to do it."

Alice became serious again after her first outburst. "Who is going to
teach him?" she asked.

"Experience will be his best master," Gorham replied, surprised by her
question.

"Don't you think I could help him by showing him some of the things Mr.
Covington has taught me? He needs an inspiration more than any one I
know."

"No; I do not think so, young lady," he said, shaking his finger at her
playfully. "If I am any judge of human nature, he would teach you more
along certain lines than I care to have you learn just yet."

Alice flushed. "How absurd!" she pouted. "Allen could never interest me
in that way. Why, he's only a boy. When I marry, daddy, my husband must
be a man lots older than I am, just as you are older than Eleanor. He
will have to be older, to have had time to accomplish all he mu