et
after them. Well, he had gone so far as to bring them home with him.

He rose reluctantly, went upstairs to his room, and brought them down.
He began on the electric company which was offering gold bonds at a
price to net four and a half per cent. Then Nora came in to call him
to the telephone.

"Who is it, Nora?"

"Miss Stuyvesant, sir."

"Oh, yes."

He hurried to the telephone.

"Good-morning, Frances."

"Dad and Mother have gone to church and it's very stupid here," she
complained. "Can't you come over?"

He hesitated the fraction of a second.

"Oh, of course,--if you don't want to,--" she began quickly.

"It isn't that, Frances. Of course I want to come; only, there were
some papers I brought home from the office--"

"Well?"

"I can go over them some other time. I'll be right up."

* * * * *

A discovery that encouraged Don the following week was that by some
unconscious power of absorption he grew sufficiently familiar with the
financial jargon of the office to feel that it really was within the
possibilities that some day he might understand it fully. He found
several opportunities to talk with Powers, and the latter, after
recovering from his surprise at the primitive nature of some of Don's
questions about notes and bonds, went to some trouble to answer them.
Not only that, but he mentioned certain books that might supply fuller
and more fundamental information.

"I know these sound like fool questions," Don apologized, "but I've
never been down in this end of the town much."

"That's all right," replied Powers. "Come to me any time you're
stuck."

After Powers went out, Don sat down and tried to recall some of the
things he had been told. He remembered some of them and some of them
he didn't. But that day at lunch Miss Winthrop handed him a
stenographic report of the entire conversation. Don looked over it in
amazement. It was in the form of question and answer.

_Mr. Pendleton:_ Say, old man, what is a gold bond, anyway?

_Mr. Powers:_ I beg your pardon?

And so on down to Don's final apology.

_Mr. Pendleton:_ I know these sound like fool questions--

_Mr. Powers:_ That's all right--

"Read it over in your spare time," advised Miss Winthrop; "then you
won't ask him the same questions twice."

"But how in thunder did you get this?" he inquired.

"I wasn't busy just then, and took it down. I knew you'd forget half
he told you."

"