face as she waved her hand at him in answer, but she was too
busy over the trunks to give the subject further thought.

Masie was waiting for him in the back part of the shop, which, by the
same old process of moving things around, had been fitted up into a sort
of private office for Kling, two high-back settles serving for one wall,
three bureaus for another, while some Spanish chairs, a hair-cloth sofa
studded with brass nails, an inlaid table, and a Daghestan rug helped to
make it secluded and attractive. Kling liked the new arrangement because
he could keep one eye on his books and the other on the front door, thus
killing two birds with one stone. Masie loved it because when Felix
had so many customers that he could neither talk nor play with her, it
served her as a temporary refuge--as would a shelter until the rain was
over--and Felix delighted in it because it kept Kling out of the way,
the good-natured Dutchman having often spoiled a sale by what Felix
called "inopportune remarks at opportune moments."

Although Masie's business on this particular morning was nothing more
important than merely saying good-by to her "Uncle Felix" before she
went to school, her wee stub of a nose had, until she saw him cross the
street, been flattened against the glass of her father's front door,
her two eager, anxious eyes fixed on Kitty's sidewalk. Felix was over an
hour late, something which had never happened before and something which
could not have happened now unless he had either overslept himself--an
unbelievable fact, or was ill--a calamity which could not be thought of
for a moment.

While a nod and a faint smile had done for Kitty, and a "No, I was not
very well last night," had sufficed for Kling, whose eyebrows made the
inquiry--he never finding fault with O'Day for lapses of any kind--the
case was far different when it came to Masie. The little lady had to
be coaxed into one of the easy chairs in the improvised office and
comforted with an arm around her shoulder, to say nothing of having
her hair smoothed back from her face, followed by a kiss on her white
forehead, before her overwrought anxieties were allayed.

That he was not himself was apparent to every one. Masie was still sure
of it when she bade him good-by, and Kling became convinced of it long
before the day was over. As the afternoon wore on, however, he grew
calmer. His indomitable will began to reassert itself. His manner became
more alert, and hi