VIII He flung himself around to his place at his desk, and in doing so struck his hand against the pointed letter-opener which lay there. A tiny trickle of blood appeared, which he sought to staunch with his handkerchief. At last he raised his head with a grin, and remarked half aloud, to himself, "When in doubt, touch the right-hand button!" "Miss Delaware," said he an instant later, as his assistant appeared, "I've cut my hand a little. I wish you'd tell one of the boys to bring me a basin of hot water, or some sticking plaster or something." "If you will allow me, Mr. Rawn," she answered respectfully, "I think I could fix that without trouble. I have a little liquid ether and collodion in my desk. It usually will stop any small cut, and it keeps it clean. "All right," said Rawn, "anything to stop the bleeding--I must get to work." She reappeared a moment later with a small bottle and a pencil brush, and bending over, proceeded to touch the tiny wound with the biting liquid, with slight "Tch!" as she saw the hand wince under the temporary sting. Rawn looked at her with a singular expression. "It's odd, Miss Delaware," said he, "that I was just saying to myself a minute ago that I'd bet a thousand dollars that you had something ready, at just the right time! Thank you very much." "By the way," he added, "I was just telling my son-in-law Mr. Halsey, the superintendent of our works, that it's going to be necessary for all three of us--that is to say, myself, Mr. Halsey and you--to start for New York to-morrow afternoon. I'll probably have to do some letters on the train, and you would better see that a typewriter is sent on--Mr. Halsey will give us the berth numbers in the morning, I suppose. Sorry to take you out of your work, but then--" "I should like to go, above all things, Mr. Rawn," replied the young woman, still respectfully. "All right. Of course, you go on company account. Maybe you'll like the change of work and scene. Please bring along all the reports on those Lower Valley instalments, and all the estimates we've been working on here for the last few days. It might be a good plan to have your files for the last month go along, with your card indexes. We've got to show those people down there a thing or two. "I suppose you know our superintendent, Mr. Halsey--my son-in-law," he added. "He's going, too." "Oh, yes. He's here often. Sometimes I've done work for him, you know. He does a good, clear letter--but rather long. He can't get through so much in an hour as you can, Mr. Rawn." When she had retired, Rawn was seized with an impulsive desire to raise his secretary's salary again; but he reflected that it would hardly do--although he was convinced that he had the most efficient assistant on the Street. He did not know she was thinking of Halsey at that moment.