fered his hand now. "Gad! but you haven't lost any of your
old grip."

"I'm a bit dazed. The last six months have loosened up my nerves."

"Nobody's made of iron."

"I'd sound hollow if I tried to say what I feel. I'll be back a week
from to-day."

"I'll look for you."

As the door closed behind Warrington, the young millionaire sat down,
scowling at a cubby-hole in his desk. He presently took out a letter
postmarked Yokohama. He turned it about in his hands, musingly.
Without reading it (for he knew its contents well!) he thrust it back
into the cubby-hole. Women were out of his sphere. He could build a
bridge within a dollar of the bid; but he knew nothing about women
beyond the fact that they were always desirable.

A few monosyllables, a sentence or two, and then, good day. The
average man would have recounted every incident of note during those
ten years. He did not admire Warrington any the less for his
reticence. It took a strong man to hold himself together under all
these blows from the big end of fortune's horn.

He had known the two brothers at college, and to Paul he had given a
freshman's worship. In the field Paul had been the idol, and popular
not only for his feats of strength but for his lovableness. He
recalled the affection between the two boys. Arthur admired Paul for
his strength, Paul admired and gloried in his brother's learning.
Never would he forget that commencement-day, when the two boys in their
mortar-boards, their beautiful mother between them, arm in arm, walked
across the green of the campus. It was an unforgettable picture.

Paul was a born-engineer; Arthur had entered the office as a
make-shift. Paul had taken eight-thousand one day, and decamped.
Arthur had refunded the sum, and disappeared. Elmore could not
understand, nor could his father. Perhaps some of the truth would now
come to light. Somehow, Paul, with his blond beard and blonder head,
his bright eyes, his tan, his big shoulders, somehow Paul was out of
date. He did not belong to the times.

And Elsa had met him over there; practically ordered (though she had no
authority) that he should be given a start anew; that, moreover, she
would go his bond to any amount. Funny old world! Well, he was glad.
Paul was a man, a big man, and that was the sort needed in the foreign
bridge-building. He rolled down the top of his desk and left the
building. He was in no mood for work.

The evening of the thi