He attended faithfully to his duties and was many times commended by Mr. Atherton for strict attention to the firm’s interests. His salary was raised at Christmas, and he received a handsome present from his boss. He also received a valuable remembrance from Mr. Seymour Atherton. Nor was he overlooked by Mr. and Mrs. Bruce, who lived in Chicago, who also enclosed a ruby ring as a gift from little Fanny. But the present which gave him the most delight of all, though the least valuable in a monetary sense, was a pretty leather pocket-book, with sterling silver trimmings, which came to him from Millie. What Jack gave her the pretty stenographer showed only to her mother, and then put it away somewhere among her treasures. At length Jack Hazard’s eighteenth birthday came around. He had made a few cautious deals in stocks since the beginning of the year. They had been uniformly successful, though they had not netted him any very considerable profit in proportion to his two former successes. But he was satisfied, for he had doubled his capital, which was now over $50,000. He had also succeeded in putting a couple of thousand dollars into his friend Potter’s pocket, much to that young man’s great delight, who expected to marry Jack’s sister in the course of time. Not only that, but he had used some of Millie’s money to great advantage. Her salary was not needed now to run the house, as Silas Hockins had come to live with them and attended to that. As we remarked, Jack reached the age of eighteen. He received the usual congratulations over the event, but he went about the firm’s business that day just the same as he always did. He was sitting in his chair in the outside office, waiting to be called on, when Mr. George Warren entered, in no little excitement. “Is Mr. Atherton in?” asked the millionaire, eagerly. “I believe he is,” replied Jack. “I will tell him you are here.” Mr. Warren was admitted to the inner sanctum immediately. In five minutes the boss’ bell rang, and Jack went to see what he wanted. “Sit down, Jack,” said Mr. Atherton, much to the boy’s surprise. The young messenger took a vacant chair and wondered what was coming. “I think you own five thousand shares of the Gopher Gold Mining Company stock, Jack,” said Mr. Atherton. “Yes, sir.” “Do you care to sell it?” “I haven’t thought about such a thing,” replied the lad, in surprise. “Mr. Warren wishes to buy some of the stock. He will give you fifty dollars a share for your little block.” “What!” gasped Jack. “Fifty dollars?” “That’s your offer, isn’t it, Mr. Warren?” said the broker, turning to his customer. The millionaire nodded. “Why--why----” was all the boy could say.