ready to accommodate you."

It sounded strange to the other clerks to hear the gentle Tom Gordon speak
thus to the young man who had played the bully so long over him. They
concluded that the crushed worm had at last turned. The vanquished one
made no reply except to give the other a look of hatred, and leave the
room.

Now, there is not one person in a thousand who would not have been
conquered morally as well as physically by an experience like that of Max
Zeigler. Such an utter overthrow would have made the bully the close
friend and champion of the other; but it was altogether different with
Zeigler. Before his swelled lip and bulging nose had resumed their normal
appearance, he resumed his petty persecutions as before. Those who knew of
the bout in the back room (and, indeed, every clerk quickly learned the
particulars) urged Tom to lay out his enemy so effectually that he would
stay laid out.

Young Gordon, however, chose the better course. He affected the same
indifference as before, and frequently did not seem to hear the words of
his enemy. The hardest duty Tom had to do was to keep back the scathing
retorts of which he thought so often, and which would have silenced
Zeigler. Nothing, indeed, is more difficult for a high-spirited person
than to bridle his tongue under the lashings of another. _How_ few of us
are equal to the task!

Chapter XXI.

Only two or three incidents worthy of note fell to the lot of Tom Gordon
during his second year in the employ of Josiah Warmore.

At the beginning of the year he was promoted, and received a considerable
increase of salary. The situation given to him belonged by right of
seniority of service to Max Zeigler, and was looked upon as a certainty by
him. He was so indignant at the snub, that he made no effort to conceal
his feelings. While the hurt rankled, he went to Mr. Warmore and demanded
an explanation. He got it, and resigned forthwith. No one regretted to see
him go, and least of all Tom Gordon, who gave a sigh of thankfulness at
the removal of the thorn from his side.

It was strange how Mr. Warmore found out everything about his employees.
Often they felt astonishment, and could not understand by what means he
picked up knowledge they were often certain was only known to themselves.
Thus he learned at an early date the petty persecutions suffered by Tom at
the hands of Zeigler; and there can be little doubt that that information
was one cause of th