be
seen publicly with young Burnit was a step upward, as Mrs. Sharpe saw
it, in that forbidding and painful social climb.

Bobby started with dismay when Garland stepped to the telephone, but
he was fairly caught, and he realized it in time to check the
involuntary protest that rose to his lips. He had acknowledged that
his time was free and at their disposal, and he regretted deeply that
no good, handy lie came to his rescue.

They arrived at the theater between acts, and with the full blaze of
the auditorium upon them. Bobby's comfort was not at all heightened
when Stone almost immediately followed them in. He had firmly made up
his mind as they entered to obtain a place in the rear corner of the
box, where he could not be seen; but he was not prepared for the
generalship of Mrs. Sharpe, who so manoeuvered it as to force him to
the very edge, between herself and Garland, and, as she turned to him
with a laughing remark which, in pantomime, had all the confidential
understanding of most cordial and intimate acquaintanceship, Bobby
glanced apprehensively across at the other side of the proscenium-arch.
There, in the opposite box, staring at him in shocked amazement, sat
Agnes Elliston!

"But Agnes," protested Bobby at the Elliston home next day, "I could
not possibly help it."

"No?" she inquired incredulously. "I don't imagine that any one
strongly advised you to have anything to do with Mr. Sharpe--and it
was through him that you met _her_. Perhaps it is just as well that it
happened, however, because it has shown you just how you were about to
become involved."

Bobby swallowed quite painfully. His tongue was a little dry.

"Well, the fact of the matter is," he admitted, reddening and
stammering, "that I have already 'become involved,' if that's the way
you choose to put it; for--for--I signed an agreement with Sharpe, and
an application for increase of capitalization, this morning."

"You don't mean it!" she gasped. "How could you?"

"Why not?" he demanded. "Agnes, it seems quite impossible for you to
divorce business and social affairs. I tell you they have absolutely
nothing to do with each other. The opportunity Sharpe offered me is a
splendid one. Chalmers and Johnson investigated it thoroughly, and
both advise me that it is quite an unusually good chance."

"You didn't seem to be able to divorce business and social affairs
last night," she reminded him rather sharply, returning to the main
point at