ith a
husband who has done her so much honor."

Arnold smiled.

"That is all very well, Mr. Jarvis," he said, "but you must remember
that Mrs. Weatherley had compensations for her lack of wealth. She
is very beautiful, and she is, too, of a different social rank."

Mr. Jarvis was frankly scornful.

"Why, she was a foreigner," he declared. "I should like to know of
what account any foreign family is against our good city firms, such
as I have been speaking of. No, Chetwode, my opinion is that she's
brought a lot of her miserable, foreign hangers-on over here, and
that somehow or other they are worrying Mr. Weatherley. I should
like, if I could, to interest you in the chief. You can't be
expected to feel as I do towards him. At the same time, he is the
head of the firm, and you are bound, therefore, to feel a certain
respect due to him, and I thought that if I talked to you and put
these matters before you, which have occurred not only to me but to
those others who have been with Mr. Weatherley for so many years,
you might be able to help us by watching, and if you can find any
clue as to what is bothering him, why, I'd be glad to hear of it,
for there isn't one of us who wouldn't do anything that lay in his
power to have the master back once more as he used to be a few years
ago. Why, the business seems to have lost all its spring, nowadays,"
Mr. Jarvis went on, mournfully. "We do well, of course, because we
couldn't help doing well, but we plod along more like a machine. It
was different altogether in the days when Mr. Weatherley used to
bring out the morning orders himself and chaff us about selling for
no profit. You follow me, Chetwode?"

"I'll do what I can," Arnold agreed. "Of course, I see your point of
view, and I must admit that the governor does seem depressed about
something or other."

"If anything turns up," Mr. Jarvis asked eagerly, "anything
tangible, I mean, you'll tell me of it, won't you, there's a good
fellow? Of course, I suppose your future is outside my control now,
but I engaged you first, you know, Chetwode. There aren't many
things done here that I haven't a say in."

"You may rely upon me," Arnold promised, slipping down from the
barrel. "He's really quite a decent old chap, and if I can find out
what's worrying him, and can help, I'll do it."

Mr. Jarvis went back to his labors and Arnold made his way to Mr.
Weatherley's room. His first knock remained unanswered. The "Come
in!" whic