he himself had committed no follies in his callow days. "Why
didn't you cable me?" he asked, puzzled at such restraint on the part of
his son.

Dick answered with simple sincerity.

"Because it gave me a capital excuse for coming home."

It was Sarah who afforded a diversion. She had known Dick while he was
yet a child, had bought him candy, had felt toward him a maternal liking
that increased rather than diminished as he grew to manhood. Now, her
face lighted at sight of him, and she smiled a welcome.

"I see you have found him," she said, with a ripple of laughter.

Dick welcomed this interruption of the graver mood.

"Sadie," he said, with a manner of the utmost seriousness, "you are
looking finer than ever. And how thin you have grown!"

The girl, eager with fond fancies toward the slender ideal, accepted the
compliment literally.

"Oh, Mr. Dick!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "How much do you think I
have lost?"

The whimsical heir of the house of Gilder surveyed his victim
critically, then spoke with judicial solemnity.

"About two ounces, Sadie."

There came a look of deep hurt on Sadie's face at the flippant jest,
which Dick himself was quick to note.

He had not guessed she was thus acutely sensitive concerning her
plumpness. Instantly, he was all contrition over his unwitting offense
inflicted on her womanly vanity.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sadie," he exclaimed penitently. "Please don't be really
angry with me. Of course, I didn't mean----"

"To twit on facts!" the secretary interrupted, bitterly.

"Pooh!" Dick cried, craftily. "You aren't plump enough to be sensitive
about it. Why, you're just right." There was something very boyish about
his manner, as he caught at the girl's arm. A memory of the days when
she had cuddled him caused him to speak warmly, forgetting the presence
of his father. "Now, don't be angry, Sadie. Just give me a little kiss,
as you used to do." He swept her into his arms, and his lips met hers
in a hearty caress. "There!" he cried. "Just to show there's no ill
feeling."

The girl was completely mollified, though in much embarrassment.

"Why, Mr. Dick!" she stammered, in confusion. "Why, Mr. Dick!"

Gilder, who had watched the scene in great astonishment, now interposed
to end it.

"Stop, Dick!" he commanded, crisply. "You are actually making Sarah
blush. I think that's about enough, son."

But a sudden unaccustomed gust of affection swirled in the breast of
the lad. Pl