"See her to-morrow. Come out to my place to-night, where the reporters can't find you. Maybe you won't care to sleep with me--I've but one bed, you see--but you can go to a quiet hotel downtown. I'm packing these things to store them for your father. Then I'm going back to New York to live on my income. It's honest money, too." "Who sent me the draft for five hundred?" "I did, Graydon. Forgive me. It was just a loan, you know. I thought you'd need something--" "I haven't touched it, Elias. Here it is. Thank you. No, I won't accept it." "I'm sorry," muttered the old man, taking the slip of paper. Graydon resumed his seat near the window and watched Droom with leaden eyes as he turned suddenly to resume charge of the packing. "We'll soon be through," he said shortly. For an hour the work went on, and then Droom dismissed the workers with their pay. The storage van men were there to carry the boxes away. Graydon sat still and saw the offices divested. Secondhand dealers hurried off with the furniture, the pictures and the rugs; an expressman came in for the things that belonged to Elias Droom. "There," said the clerk, tossing the umbrella into a corner. "It's finished. There's nothing left to do but remove ourselves." "Elias, did Mr. Clegg know about father's conviction when he offered me the place in New York?" asked Graydon as they started away. "Yes, that's the beauty of it. He admires you. You'll take the place?" "Not until I've talked it all over with him--to-morrow." Droom called a cab and the two drove over to the Wells Street rooms, Graydon relinquishing himself completely to the will of the old man. During the supper, which Droom prepared with elaborate care, and far into the night, the young man sat and listened without interest to the garrulous talk of his host, who explained the mechanism and purpose of two models. One was in the nature of a guillotine by which a person could chop his own head off neatly without chance of failure, and the other had to do with the improvement of science in respect to shoelaces. CHAPTER XXX THE DRINK OF GALL Mr. Clegg was not long in convincing Graydon that his proposition to him was sincere and not the outgrowth of sentiment. A dozen men in the office greeted Graydon with a warmth that had an uplifting effect. He went away with a heart lighter than he had once imagined it could ever be again. In two weeks he was to be in absolute control of the New York branch; he assured the firm that his physical condition was such that he could go to work at once, if necessary. As he hastened to the Annex, misgivings again entered into his soul. The newspapers had heralded his return and had hinted broadly at romantic developments in connection with Miss Cable, "who is at the Annex with Mr. and Mrs. Cable." There were brief references to the causes which sent both of them to the Philippines, find that was all.