for my father was increased. Then he began to persecute me. Whenever I obtained employment and he learned it I was discharged. I began to study plans for vengeance, for I was filled with the idea of injuring him. It was the only idea I had. How I learned his plans as to Universal is not to the purpose, and involves other people. It is sufficient that I did not learn them accurately; or, learning them, did not reason well. I thought my opportunity had come. I succeeded in finding a way to get to the books, but I was a fool, as I now see. And once out on bail I have learned that you, Mr. Dunbar, were not his tool, but his enemy. With the exception of saying that, having been arrested, I appealed to Mr. Durbin, with whom I have had but slight relations, I have told my story."

It was characteristic of Mr. Wiswall that he should have followed the recital with lively interest and responsive expressions. It was highly characteristic of Percy that he should have sat silently under a stolid mask, neither repressing nor guiding the tale, his eyes never removed from the teller. He had read the young man through and through and had not failed to note his intelligence nor his sullen and vengeful disposition, nor his courage and boldness.

"And now you wish me to aid you in escap

ing the consequences of this ill-advised act?" he suddenly asked.

"I do, Mr. Dunbar.

But I want more."

He turned to Mr. Wiswall and added:

66

Though you repudiated your act of going on my bail bond as a kindness, I must regard it as such. And yet it would have been better had I been left in jail, for I am penniless. Mr. Dunbar, I want a chance of earning my living. As matters stand you are the only man who can give me that chance. I am competent, I am honest, and I am trained in bank or trust company work. You will find me faithful and devoted to you. You can confirm my story step by step."

"Oh, Lord!" ejaculated Mr. Wiswall, "another financier."

"You have no means, you say?" asked Percy. "Mr. Durbin would doubtless assist you."

"I have never appealed to him," replied the young man firmly, "and shall not do so now. I am asking nothing but the opportunity to earn money.

"But you must live," replied Pércy. "I shall have your story confirmed. And, being confirmed, I shall find you something to do. I have already consented to having your indictment nollied. But until that is done I cannot

place you in position. Nor shall I do it here. It would not be wise for me to do that.'

He was thoughtful a moment or two before drawing a sheet of paper before him, and then asked:

"By what name do you go?"

"Smith Edgar."

He wrote a line to Mark Pollock merely presenting Edgar to him. Then he wrote a letter of some length, which he sealed, handing both to Smith Edgar.

"Deliver both at that address," he said. "Mr. Pollock will give you temporary employment with wages sufficient for you to live for the present. It will last until you can be cleared of this affair, and I can return to the city, which I leave in a day or two for two or three weeks. It will be well to follow Mr. Pollock's suggestions as to your living place.

The young man was profuse in thanks, but Mr. Wiswall hurried him out of the room, with the injunction to await his coming to him. Closing the door he said to Percy:

"My dear nephew, I regret to discover that you have the fatal instincts of a philanthropist. Indulge those impulses and you are lost as a successful money-getter."

Percy stood at his desk, his eyes flashing. "So long as I have Smith Edgar at my di

rection, I have C. C. Edgar in my power. If he raises a finger at me I'll crush him."

The words were uttered in a low tone, but with amazing force.

"Dear me!" exclaimed Mr. Wiswall, "I've made a mess of this. It were better for me to stick to my poisons."

He hurried into the ante-room where he crowded a bill into the hand of Smith Edgar with the remark that one was liable to get dyspepsia if they failed to take their meals regularly.

CHAPTER XVI

VACATION DAYS AND THEIR RESULTS

MRS. HILARY STANFORD had gone to Saratoga because she was not happy. She had told herself that she ought to be, for she had accomplished all she had set out to do. Things had come her way, Percy had told her, but, in her self-communings, she was forced to admit that they had not brought satisfaction with them. When, with the advice of Mr. Wiswall and Percy, she had safely invested the results of her speculations, a deadly dullness settled on her life. It was midsummer and there were no occupations at her hand. She missed the excitement which had attended her precarious life with its sharp contrasts of apprehension and assurance. Realizing this she put aside her aunt's suggestion of a quiet place in the mountains, where she could find complete rest, and, taking that lady with her, settled at one of the large hotels of the Springs, where there was rush and whirl and attrition of life.