parlors of
the others, and frequently we have to double up our guests. This oil
excitement is a blessing to us poor innkeepers. I presume it's oil that
brings you here?"

Gray met the speaker's interrogatory gaze with a negative shake of the
head and a smile peculiarly noncommittal. "No," he declared. "I'm not
in the oil business and I have no money to invest in it. I don't even
represent a syndicate of Eastern capitalists. On the contrary, I am a
penniless adventurer whom chance alone has cast upon your hospitable
grand staircase." These words were spoken with a suggestion of mock
modesty that had precisely the effect of a deliberate wink, and Mr.
Haviland smiled and nodded his complete comprehension.

"I get you," said he. "And you're right. The lease hounds would devil
you to death if you gave them a chance. Now then, if there's any way in
which I can be of service--"

"There is." Gray's tone was at once businesslike. "Please give me the
names of your leading bankers. I mean the strongest and the most--well,
discreet."

During the next few minutes Gray received and swiftly tabulated in his
mind a deal of inside information usually denied to the average
stranger; the impression his swift, searching questions made upon the
hotel manager was evident when the latter told him as he rose to go:

"Don't feel that you have to identify yourself at the banks to-day. If
we can accommodate you--cash a check or the like--"

"Thank you." The caller shook his head and smiled his appreciation of
the offer. "Your manner of conducting a hotel impresses me deeply, and
I shall speak of it to some of my Eastern friends. Live executives are
hard to find."

It is impossible to analyze or to describe that quality of magnetic
charm which we commonly term personality, nevertheless it is the most
potent influence in our social and our business lives. It is a gift of
the gods, and most conspicuous successes, in whatever line, are due to
it. Now and then comes an individual who is cold, even repellent, and
yet who rises to full accomplishment by reason of pure intellectual
force or strength of character; but nine times out of ten the man who
gets ahead, be he merchant, banker, promoter, or crook, does so by
reason of this abstract asset, this intangible birthright.

Gray possessed that happy quality. It had made itself felt by the
waiter who brought his breakfast and by the manager of the hotel; its
effect was equally noticeable upon