late
in comin' down yesterday, wasn't ye?"

Paul smiled pleasantly.

"A little bird told me," he said.

"If I had the bird I'd ring his neck for tellin' tales," the porter
remarked.

"I don't mind your smoking, Mike," the young man went on, "that's your
own affair; but I'd rather you didn't smoke a pipe while you are
tidying up the private office."

"Well, Mister Paul, I won't do it again," the porter promised.

"And I wouldn't encourage Bob to smoke, either," Paul continued.

"I encourage him?" inquired Mike.

"Yes," Paul explained; "yesterday morning you let him light his
cigarette from your pipe--didn't you?"

"Were you peekin' in thro' the winder, Mister Paul?" the porter asked,
eagerly. "Ye saw me, an' I never saw ye at all."

"No," the young man answered, "I can't say that I saw you myself. A
little bird told me."

And with that he left the wondering porter and entered the store. Just
inside the door was the office-boy, who hastily hid an unlighted
cigarette as he caught sight of the senior partner's son.

When Paul saw the red-headed boy he smiled again, mischievously.

"Bob," he began, "when you want to see who can stand on his head the
longest, you or Danny the boot-black, don't you think you could choose
a better place than the private office?"

The office-boy was quite as much taken by surprise as the porter had
been, but he was younger and quicker-witted.

"And when did I have Danny in the office?" he asked, defiantly.

"Yesterday morning," Paul answered, still smiling, "a little before
half-past eight."

"Yesterday mornin'?" repeated Bob, as though trying hard to recall all
the events of the day before. "Maybe Danny did come in for a minute."

"He played leap-frog with you all the way into the private office,"
Paul went on, while Bob looked at him with increasing wonder.

"How did you know?" the office-boy asked, frankly. "Were you lookin'
through the window?"

"How do I know that you and Danny stood on your heads in the corner of
the office with your heels against the safe, scratching off the paint?
Next time I'd try the yard, if I were you. Sports of that sort are more
fun in the open air."

And with that parting shot Paul went on his way to his own desk,
leaving the office-boy greatly puzzled.

Later in the day Bob and Mike exchanged confidences, and neither was
ready with an explanation.

"At school," Bob declared, "we used to think teacher had eyes in the
back of her head