arge him this very hour.
You must be a good driver, Tode, or you never could have got here alive
with _those_ horses after such a time. Don't you want the position of
coachman?"

"Papa," said Dora, sitting erect, and with scarlet cheeks, "Mr. Mallery
is Mr. S. S. Stephens' confidential clerk!"

Then the great man turned and looked on his ex-waiter at the Euclid
House--the erect, well-built, well-dressed young man, standing hat in
hand, with a curious blending of dignity and amusement on his face, and
actually stammered, and muttered something about "not noticing, not
thinking, not meaning, and everlasting obligations," in the midst of
which the ex-coachman glanced at his watch, noticed the lateness of the
hour in some dismay, signaled from the window a passing car, and
hurriedly made his escape.

This lengthy and unexpected interruption made a grievous tangle in his
day's work. Arrived at the store he flew about in eager haste, and then
rushed with more than usual speed to the bank. Just five minutes too
late; the last shutter was being closed as he reached the steps. "The
first failure!" he said to himself in a disappointed tone. "But it can
hardly be said to be my fault this time." His next engagement was an
appointment to dine with Mr. Stephens at four o'clock, and with that,
too, he was a little behind time.

"Well, sir," said Mr. Stephens, meeting him in the hall, "as sure as I'm
alive you are five minutes behind time! I begin to be encouraged. It
seems that you _are_ a compound of flesh and blood after all."

Theodore smiled faintly; his peril was too recent for him to have
regained his usual demeanor.

"Here is your mail," he said, passing over a handful of letters and
papers. "By being ten minutes late I was enabled to get the latest news,
and I see there is a Lyons letter among them."

"Ah," said Mr. Stephens, "that is fortunate for Lyons. Suppose we step
into the library, Mallery, and see what they say for themselves."

So the two passed into the business room and ran over the contents of
the letter in question, as well as several others, conversing together
in a manner which showed that the younger man had a marked knowledge of
the other's business affairs, and that his opinions were listened to as
if they carried weight with them.

"But the mail was not what detained me," said Theodore, presently. "And
Mr. Stephens, I was too late for the bank."

"Well, it will do to-morrow, will it not?" queried