ght. Do you need any funds?"

"I believe I have enough." Thomas appeared to be disturbed not in the
least by the older man's hilarity. It was not infectious, because he
did not understand it.

"Glad you came to me. Always come to me when you're in doubt about
anything. I'm no authority on clothes, but my secretary is. I'll have
him take you to a tailor where you can rent a suit for to-night. He'll
take your measure, and by the end of the week . . ." He did not finish
the sentence, but pressed one of the many buttons on his desk. "Clark,
this is Mr. Webb, Mrs. Killigrew's secretary. He wants some clothes.
Take him along with you."

Alone again, Killigrew smiled broadly. The humor of the situation did
not blind him to the salient fact that this Webb was a man of no small
courage. He recognized in this courage a commendable shrewdness also:
Webb wanted the right thing, honest clothes for honest dollars. A man
like that would be well worth watching. And for a moment he had
thought that Webb had fallen in love with Kitty and wanted to marry
her! He chuckled. Clothes!

What a boy Kitty would have made! What an infallible eye she had for
measuring a person! No servant-question ever dangled its hot
interrogation point before his eyes. Kitty saw to that. She was the
real manager of the household affairs, for all that he paid the bills.
Some day she would marry a proper man; but heaven keep that day as far
off as possible. What would he do without Kitty? Always ready to
perch on his knee, to smooth the day-cares from his forehead, to fend
off trouble, to make laughter in the house. He was not going to love
the man who eventually carried her off. He was always dreading that
day; young men about the house, the yacht and the summer home worried
him. The whole lot of them were not worthy to tie the laces of her
shoes, much as they might yearn to do so.

And all Webb wanted was a tailor! He would give a hundred for the
right to tell this scare to the boys at the club, but Webb's ingenuous
confidence did not merit betrayal. Still, nothing should prevent him
from telling Kitty, who knew how to keep a secret. He picked up the
newspaper and resumed his computation of averages (batting), chuckling
audibly from time to time. Clothes!

At quarter to six Thomas returned to the house, laden with fat bundles
which he hurried secretly to his room. He had never worn a dress-suit.
He had often guilelessly dream