ife of toil.

Gwendolyn had delivered her message, and the superintendent welcomed Amy
to his office at the mill with a friendly nod and smile; but, at that
moment, he was deep in business with a strange gentleman, negotiating
for a large sale of carpets, and after his brief greeting he apparently
forgot the girl. She remained standing for some moments, then Mr.
Metcalf beckoned an attendant to give her a chair and the day's
newspaper.

Her heart sank even lower than before. The superintendent appeared a
different person from the friend she had met in his own home. Her throat
choked. She felt that she should cry, if she did not make some desperate
effort to the contrary; so she began to read the paper diligently,
though her mind scarcely followed the words she saw, and would deflect
to those she heard, which were very earnest, indeed, though all about a
matter no greater than one-eighth cent per yard.

"How queer! Two great grown men to stand there and argue about such a
trifle. Why, there isn't any such coin, and what does it mean? Well, I'm
eavesdropping, and that's wrong. Now I will read. I will not listen."

Running in this wise, her thoughts at last fixed themselves upon a
paragraph which she had perused several times without comprehending. Now
it began to have a meaning for her, and one so intense that she half
rose to beg the loan of the newspaper that she might show it to Hallam.

"The very thing. The very thing I heard those doctors talking about in
mother's room. I'll ask for it, or copy it, if I can, and show my boy.
Who knows what it might do?"

There was a little movement in the office. The gentleman in the big
top-coat, with his eyeglasses, his gold-handled umbrella, and his
consequential air, was leaving. He was bowing in a patronizing sort of
way, and Mr. Metcalf was bowing also, smiling almost obsequious. He was
rubbing his hair upward from his forehead, in a way Amy had already
observed to be habitual when he was pleased. Evidently he was pleased
now, and greatly so, for even after the stranger had passed out and
entered the cab in waiting, the superintendent remained before the glass
door, still smiling with profound satisfaction.

Then, as if he had suddenly remembered her, he turned toward Amy.

"Well, miss, what can I do for you to-day? I saw you were interested in
our argument over the fraction of a cent, and I'm glad to tell you I
won. Yes, I carried my point."

The girl was disgusted.