That old office from whose windows one could see the rows of oil casks and the fence of old ships' sheathing and the black dust of the road and the yards of vessels--that old office which had been sleeping for something more than a year--that old office which had been left behind when the business centre of Whitby began to move uptown, so many years ago--that old office, as I started to say at the beginning, was waking up again. One hot morning in early August, Horry Carling stood at the window, his hands thrust deep into his pockets, and he gazed at a row of oil casks; gazed thoughtfully and for a long time. Then a smile began to curl the corners of his mouth. Presently he chuckled. "I s--s--say, O--Ol--lie, c--c--come here; th--that is, if--f--f S--S--Sally c--can s--s--spare you." Sally looked up from her papers. Her hair was in a pretty disorder; in a disorder that was very attractive, indeed, being somewhat rumpled in the front and running over with little ringlets, formed by the heat and the dampness, at her forehead and by the sides of her ears and down at her neck. She was busy, but she was interested and she was happy, for which I, for one, am thankful. She brushed the ringlets out of her eyes, impatiently, and smiled. "Go ahead, Ollie," she said. "What is it, Horry?" "O--only a r--r--row of b--b--bar--r--rels," he replied. Ollie Pilcher was standing at his elbow now, looking over his shoulder. "D--d--do y--y--you rem--em--mmb--ber th--that r--r--row?" Horry asked. "M--m--might b--b--be the th--the v--v--very s--same b--b--b--barrels." Ollie burst out laughing. He did remember. "How long ago was that, Horry?" "S--s--sev--ven years," he answered. "Ab--b--bout th--this t--t--time o' y--year, w--w--wasn't it?" Ollie nodded. "Oh," Sally cried, "I remember that, too." Horry turned. "Y--y--you d--do!" he spluttered in surprise. "Wh--wh--where w--w--were y--you?" "Sitting at that very window," she returned. "Uncle John saw it, too,--some of it." Horry chuckled again. "Y--y--your Un--n--cle"--here he winked and gave a peculiar twitch to his eyebrows, as though that last syllable hurt him--"J--J--John w--was a b--brick, S--S--Sally." "He was, Horry. You don't know what a brick he was." She sighed lightly and then she laughed. "Whatever did you do with your jacket?" "M--m--most s--set th--the h--house af--f--fire w--with it. I--it w--w--was a p--pretty n--n--new j--j--j--th--there!--c--coat, and m--m--moth--ther c--c--couldn't b--b--bear to th--throw it aw--w--way, s--so sh--sh--she k--k--kept it l--lying ar--r--round 'n--n--ntil w--w--winter. Th--then sh--she t--t--told m--me t--to p--p--put it in--n--to th--the f--f--furnace. M--m--most s--set th--the h--house af--f--f--fire. F--f--full o' o--o--oil, y' kn--n--now. H--h--hor--rid sm--sm--smoke." Ollie and Sally were chuckling in little bursts.