es for his balance. He had been delayed by the fact
that Mrs. Wayne had been talking to him almost continuously since his
return to figuring. She was in high spirits, for even saints are
stimulated by a respectful adoration.

CHAPTER XVIII

Recognizing the neat back of Mr. Lanley's gray head, Pete's first idea
was that he must have come to induce Mrs. Wayne to conspire with him
against the marriage; but he abandoned this notion on seeing his
occupation.

"Hullo, Mr. Lanley," he said, stooping to kiss his mother with the casual
affection of the domesticated male. "You have my job."

"It is a great pleasure to be of any service," said Mr. Lanley.

"It was in a terrible state, it seems, Pete," said his mother.

"She makes her fours just like sevens, doesn't she?" observed Pete.

"I did not notice the similarity," replied Mr. Lanley. He glanced at Mrs.
Wayne, however, and enjoyed his denial almost as much as he had enjoyed
the discovery that the Wilsey ancestor had not been a Signer. He felt
that somehow, owing to his late-nineteenth-century tact, the breach
between him and Pete had been healed.

"Mr. Lanley is going to stay and dine with me," said Mrs. Wayne.

Pete looked a little grave, but his next sentence explained the cause of
his anxiety.

"Wouldn't you like me to go out and get something to eat, Mother?"

"No, no," answered his mother, firmly. "This time there really is
something in the house quite good. I don't remember what it is."

And then Pete, who felt he had done his duty, went off to dress. Soon,
however, his voice called from an adjoining room.

"Hasn't that woman sent back any of my collars, Mother dear?"

"O Pete, her daughter got out of the reformatory only yesterday," Mrs.
Wayne replied. Lanley saw that the Wayne housekeeping was immensely
complicated by crime. "I believe I am the only person in your employ not
a criminal," he said, closing the books. "These balance now."

"Have I anything left?"

"Only about a hundred and fifty."

She brightened at this.

"Oh, come," she said, "that's not so bad. I couldn't have been so
terribly overdrawn, after all."

"You ought not to overdraw at all," said Mr. Lanley, severely. "It's not
fair to the bank."

"Well, I never mean to," she replied, as if no one could ask more
than that.

Presently she left him to go and dress for dinner. He felt
extraordinarily at home, left alone like this among her belongings. He
wandered about looki