to thank her and wish her a pleasant good-night.
Neither did he keep his promise by telling her how he came to know her
New York address.

"Let me hear anny blackguard mintion that one's name wit' a lack o'
respect," Mr. O'Leary breathed, as he crossed the vacant lots, "an'
I'll break the back o' him in two halves! Whirro-o-o! Sure I'd make a
mummy out o' him!"

XXXVI

A month passed, and to the Sawdust Pile one evening, instead of Dirty
Dan, there came another messenger. It was Mr. Daney. To Nan's
invitation to enter and be seated, he gave ready acceptance; once
seated, however, he showed indubitable evidence of uneasiness, and
that he was the bearer of news of more than ordinary interest was
apparent by the nervous manner in which he twirled his hat and
scattered over her clean floor a quantity of sawdust which had
accumulated under the rim during his peregrinations round the mill
that day.

"Well, Nan, he went home to The Dreamerie this afternoon," the general
manager began presently. "Got up and dressed himself unaided, and
insisted on walking out to the car without assistance. He's back on a
solid diet now, and the way he's filling up the chinks in his
superstructure is a sight to marvel at. I expect he'll be back on the
job within a month."

"That is wonderful news, Mr. Daney."

"Of course," Daney continued, "his hair is falling out, and he'll soon
be as bald as a Chihuahua dog. But--it'll grow in again. Yes, indeed.
It'll grow in."

"Oh dear! I do hope it will grow out," she bantered, in an effort to
put him at his ease. "What a pity if his illness should leave poor Don
with a head like a thistle--with all the fuzzy-wuzzy inside."

He laughed.

"I'm glad to find you in such good spirits, Nan, because I've called
to talk business. And, for some reason or other, I do not relish my
job."

"Then, suppose I dismiss you from this particular job, Mr. Daney.
Suppose I decline to discuss business."

"Oh, but business is something that has to be discussed sooner or
later," he asured her, on the authority of one whose life had been
dedicated to that exacting duty. "I suppose you've kept track of your
expenses since you left New York. That, of course, will include the
outlay for your living-expenses while here, and in order to make
doubly certain that we are on the safe side, I am instructed to double
this total to cover the additional expenses of your return to New
York. And if you will set a value