y in _his_ manger fer quite a spell," remarked Mr. Harum.

"H'm!" said John, raising his brows, conscious of a humane but very
faint interest in Mr. Timson's affairs. Mr. Harum got out a cigar, and,
lighting it, gave a puff or two, and continued with what struck the
younger man as a perfectly irrelevant question. It really seemed to him
as if his senior were making conversation.

"How's Peleg doin' these days?" was the query.

"Very well," was the reply.

"C'n do most anythin' 't's nec'sary, can't he?"

A brief interruption followed upon the entrance of a man, who, after
saying good-morning, laid a note on David's desk, asking for the money
on it. Mr. Harum handed it back, indicating John with a motion of his
thumb.

The latter took it, looked at the face and back, marked his initials on
it with a pencil, and the man went out to the counter.

"If you was fixed so 't you could git away fer a spell," said David a
moment or two after the customer's departure, "where would you like to
go?"

"I have not thought about it," said John rather listlessly.

"Wa'al, s'pose you think about it a little now, if you hain't got no
pressin' engagement. Bus'nis don't seem to be very rushin' this
mornin'."

"Why?" said John.

"Because," said David impressively, "you're goin' somewhere right off,
quick 's you c'n git ready, an' you may 's well be makin' up your mind
where."

John looked up in surprise. "I don't want to go away," he said, "and if
I did, how could I leave the office?"

"No," responded Mr. Harum, "you don't want to make a move of any kind
that you don't actually have to, an' that's the reason fer makin' one.
F'm what the doc said, an' f'm what I c'n see, you got to git out o'
this dum'd climate," waving his hand toward the window, against which
the sleet was beating, "fer a spell; an' as fur 's the office goes, Chet
Timson 'd be tickled to death to come on an' help out while you're away,
an' I guess 'mongst us we c'n mosey along some gait. I ain't _quite_ to
the bone-yard yet myself," he added with a grin.

The younger man sat for a moment or two with brows contracted, and
pulling thoughtfully at his moustache.

"There is that matter," he said, pointing to the letter on the desk.

"Wa'al," said David, "the' ain't no tearin' hurry 'bout that; an' any
way, I was goin' to make you a suggestion to put the matter into my
hands to some extent."

"Will you take it?" said John quickly. "That is exactly what I sho