That bewildered youngster was shrinking and shrinking away from Anthony. He was wilting before the stem eye, and he was smiling in the sickliest, most ghastly fashion. And now he was nodding submissively and speaking: "Yes, I'll stay, Mr. Fry." "Ah!" said Anthony. "I--I'm glad to stay," David assured him. Then, looking at Anthony, he contrived another smile and yawned; and having yawned once, he yawned again, vastly, and stretching the second time. "The--the trouble with me is that I'm sleepy," David stated, in a strange, low voice. "I get that way because I'm not used to late hours, and when I do get sleepy I--I can't think or talk or do anything. I'll be myself in the morning, Mr. Fry; but if I'm going to stay here, I'd like to go to bed now." He yawned again and still again, quite noisily and eying Anthony in an odd, expectant, pleading way. Anthony, after a puzzled moment, shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Go to bed if you like, David," he said. "There are one or two things I want to say to you first." "Yes, sir," David said obediently. "To-morrow, when you have slept on it, I'm confident that you will see the huge opportunity that I have offered you, and that you will stay with me as one of my little household. It is not an exacting position, but there are one or two laws you must remember. For the first--no dissipation. You don't drink, David?" "Not a drop, sir." "And for another," Anthony said gravely, "no women!" "Eh?" said David. "Absolutely no women in this Hotel Lasande!" Anthony repeated, with a fanatic force that caused Johnson Boller to snort disgustedly and throw up his hands. "This is, perhaps, more strictly than any other house in New York an all-man establishment. There are not even women servants here, David, and other sorts of women _don't_ run in and out of here. In fact, the ladies who do come--relatives of the tenants, of course--are so very few that they're all known to the clerks. So, while you may have a sweetheart, David, and while she may be all very well in her place--keep her out of here!" "But----" "That's the unwritten law of the house, and it makes for profound peace," Anthony concluded. "You'll appreciate it more fully when you have lived here for a time." David, facing Mr. Fry, gazed at the floor and yawned again. "I guess I'll go to bed," he said weakly. "And before that we'll start you on the right track," Anthony said with a gentle smile. "You'll take a good, hot bath." He pressed the button and Wilkins appeared. "The guest-chamber for young Mr. Prentiss, Wilkins," said Anthony. "You will outfit him with pajamas of my own and the gray bathrobe I used last year. To-morrow we'll get you something that fits, David." David nodded numbly. "And, Wilkins," said his master, "you will assist Mr. Prentiss with his bath." David's nod broke in two. "I don't want any help," he said. "But Wilkins----"