o prove so satisfactory as to soon be admitted to the
"confidential" clerkship, in which event he anticipated being able to
accomplish a nice little piece of detective work.

CHAPTER III.

Mr. Houston was aroused from his pleasant revery by the rather noisy
entrance of a young man, who, with flushed face, and manner more
indicative of self-assertion than self-possession, passed down the car
and took a seat facing himself. This was none other than our friend,
Rutherford, who, having secured his berth in the sleeper, and arranged
his belongings to his entire satisfaction, immediately repaired to the
smoking car to soothe his perturbed and agitated spirits by a cigar.

From under his heavily drooping eyelids, Houston regarded his
vis-a-vis with concealed amusement, for he was an apt student of human
nature, and possessed an unusual degree of insight into the
characteristics of those with whom he was thrown in contact.

Rutherford, on his part, was watching Houston with his usual degree of
interest and curiosity. Each was measuring the other from his own
standpoint: Houston's prompt decision was,--"A good-hearted fellow,
but something of a cad;" while Rutherford's vague surmises, summed up
verbally, would have been,--"Nice looking sort of fellow, a gentleman;
guess he's got the stuff, too; 'twon't do any harm to make his
acquaintance."

An opportunity for this soon presented itself, for as the conductor
passed leisurely through the car, examining tickets, Rutherford
discovered that their destinations were the same, and hastily drawing
his card case from his pocket, said:

"As we seem likely to be fellow travelers for a while, I should be
pleased to make your acquaintance; allow me," at the same time
offering his card.

Houston took the card, greeting him courteously, and giving his own
in exchange. He half smiled as he looked at the diminutive slip of
cardboard with its Boston address made unnecessarily prominent, while
Rutherford, after scanning the card he held, bearing simply the name
of W. E. Houston, remarked with a decidedly upward inflection,

"You are from--?"

"From Chicago," Houston replied promptly.

"Ah," Rutherford responded, "then I suppose you are quite familiar
with this part of the country."

"Well, not exactly," replied Houston, smiling, "Chicago, I'll admit,
seems inclined to embrace a small part of the state of Illinois within
her city limits, but I never heard of her attempting to