ded Uncle Dan. "Allow me to congratulate you," and he
shook hands heartily with both Agnes and Bobby, whereat Aunt Constance
denounced him as being a sordid soul of their own stripe and went to
bed in a huff. She got up again, however, when she heard Agnes retire
to her own room for the night, and came in to wrestle with that young
lady in spirit. She found Agnes, however, obdurate in her content, and
ended by becoming an enthusiastic supporter of the idea. "Although I
did have my heart so set on a fine wedding," she plaintively
concluded. "I have been planning it for ages."

"Just keep on planning, auntie," replied Agnes. "No doubt you will
acquire some brilliant new ideas before the time comes."

So this utterly placid courtship went on in its old tranquil way, with
Bobby a constant two and three nights a week visitor to the Elliston
home, and with the two young people discussing business more
frequently than anything else; for Bobby had learned to come to Agnes
for counsel in everything. Just now his chief burden of conversation
was the letting of the new waterworks contract, which, with public
sentiment back of him, he had fought off until after the Stone
administration had ended. Hamilton Ferris, an old polo antagonist of
his, represented one of the competing firms as its president, and
Bobby had been most anxious that he should be the successful bidder,
as was Agnes; for Bobby had brought Ferris to dinner at the Ellistons
and to call a couple of times during his stay in the city, and all of
the Ellistons liked him tremendously. Bobby was quite crestfallen when
the opening of the bids proved Ferris to be the second lowest man.

"I've tried hard enough for it," declared Ferris during a final dinner
at the Ellistons that night. "There isn't much doing this year, and I
figured closer than anybody in my employ would dared to have done. In
view of my estimate I can not for the life of me see how your local
company overbid us all by over a million dollars."

"It is curious," admitted Bobby, still much puzzled.

"It's rather unsportsmanlike in me to whine," resumed Ferris, "but I
am bound to believe that there is a colored gentleman in the woodpile
somewhere."

"That would be no novelty," returned Bobby. "Ever since I bought the
_Bulletin_ I have been gunning for Ethiopians amid the fuel and always
found them. The Middle West Construction Company, however, is a new
load of kindling to me. I never heard of it until i