h had enabled him to accumulate two hundred thousand in
first-class securities, pointed his written utterances in keen-edged
words which never missed their mark, and invariably carried conviction
with them.

Many a mickle makes a muckle, and the seafaring mickles of Mrs.
MacGregor's native town which had been so painfully accumulated through
many years of toil, and towards which that astute lady had turned
expectant and longing eyes, were now plunging her into the depths of
despair.

The denizens of Fall Brook turned greedy eyes to the golden promises she
offered them, their ears were always open, but the end was ever the
same. The knots in the stockings were only tied the tighter because of
their canny greed and because of her words which threatened to despoil
them. Finally the promises of Mrs. MacGregor, made to a scant but
influential few, of stock in the Palm Wells tract, as a bonus for
persuading their fellows to invest, added zealous recruits to her cause.
These, however, not only failed in positive results, but defeated her
every hope of success. In a land where the equality of individuals was
the breath of life, the arbitrary choice of the few to be the leaders of
the many was an insult which no self-respecting New Englander could fail
to resent.

The gray-haired banker was Mrs. MacGregor's last resort. Urged by
messages from Elijah, at first urgent, then importunate, Mrs. MacGregor
turned to the banker. He was tarred with the same stick as were his
fellow citizens; moreover, he was in receipt of an extra stick from
Uncle Sid. The letter that had traveled eastward with Mrs. MacGregor had
received due consideration, and its contents had been judiciously
distributed. With the same measure, with which for years she had
measured her fellow townsmen, Mrs. MacGregor was being measured. Wounded
pride, bitter, burning resentment, accompanied her on her return trip to
California.

CHAPTER TWENTY

In any great and growing business, there is often a readjusting and
shifting of duties from shoulder to shoulder, as one official after
another discovers aptitude for a special line of work.

Thus it happened that, contrary to Helen's fears, no comment was excited
either in the office itself or in Ysleta over Elijah's prolonged
absence. In both places it was tacitly assumed that his new venture was
consuming the greater part of his time. For some weeks most of the
routine business transacted in Elijah's name had