known you were going off
into the abstract, Anthony. I wanted to talk to you and have a little
game of chess and a bottle of ale and----"

Anthony smiled serenely.

"And the mere fact that a train of thought, only slightly unusual, has
entered your evening, has upset your whole being, hasn't it? Well, it'll
do you good to hear and watch something different. This boy will see
opportunity before I'm done with him, Johnson, and the longer it takes
the sounder my general hypothesis will have been proven."

Curiously enough, David had lost much of his grinning assurance when
they rejoined him. The impudence had left his eye and the boy seemed
downright uneasy. He started and rose at the sight of them, and his
quick, nervous smile lingered only a moment as he said:

"I think I'd better be going after all, Mr. Fry. It's pretty late
and----"

"Just a minute or two, and perhaps you'll change your mind," Anthony
said quietly, as he dropped into his pet chair. "You'll permit a
personal question or two, David?"

"I suppose so."

"Then--how old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Ah! Parents living?"

David nodded.

"And in rather humble circumstances, perhaps?"

This time David glanced at him keenly, queerly, for an instant--opened
his lips and shut them again and ended with a mere jerk of a nod.

"How about schooling, David? You've been through high school?"

"Er--yes."

"And have you a profession?" Anthony pursued.

"No, I haven't any profession?" the boy muttered.

"But you're working, of course?" Mr. Fry asked sharply.

"What? Oh, yes," said David.

"At some mechanical line?"

"Oh, yes," David said.

"In just what line, then?"

And now, had Anthony but been watching, some of Johnson Boller's
suspicions must have seemed justified. There was no question about the
way David's very intelligent eyes were acting now; they darted
furtively, wildly almost, from side to side, as if the boy were seeking
escape. They darted toward Anthony and away from him and back to David's
shabby suit and worn shoes.

"I'm a--plumber's helper!" the boy said gustily.

"Wait a second, kid!" Mr. Boller put in. "Let me see those hands!"

"Well, they--they haven't had time to get roughened up yet!" David said
quickly. "I just went to work yesterday."

"The boy's lying, Anthony!" Mr. Boller said bluntly.

"I don't lie, Mr.----"

"Boller," Anthony supplied. "And please don't badger the boy, Johnson."

"I'm not badgering him," said J