"Just a minute," young Anderson cried, in a tone that stilled the other. "I'm fired, am I, for something I didn't do? Very well! I'm glad of it, for now you can't stand in my way. You tried to double-cross me and failed. You robbed me of what was mine and got caught at it. You're a big man, in your way, Burns, but some day people will tell you that the biggest thing you ever did was to fire Paul Anderson. That's how small you'll be, and that's how big I'm going to grow. You've 'welched' on your own word; but there's one thing you gave me that you can't take away, and that's the knowledge that I'm a newspaper man and a good one. Now just one thing more: I'm broke today, but I'm going to lick you as soon as I save up enough for the fine." With studied insolence the speaker put on his hat, slammed the door behind him, and walked out of _The Intelligencer_ office, leaving the apoplectic editor thereof secure in the breathless knowledge that for once in his life he had heard the truth spoken. Mr. Burns wondered how long it would take that young bully to save up ten dollars and costs. OUT OF THE NIGHT "There is but one remedy for your complaint." Doctor Suydam settled deeper into his chair. "Marry the girl." "That is the only piece of your professional advice I ever cared to follow. But how?" "Any way you can--use force if necessary--only marry her. Otherwise I predict all sorts of complications for you--melancholia, brain-fag, bankruptcy--" Austin laughed. "Could you write me a prescription?" "Oh, she'll have you, Bob. You don't seem to realize that you are a good catch." Austin finished buckling his puttee before rising to his full height. "That doesn't mean anything to her. She doesn't need to make a catch." "Nonsense! She's just like all the others, only richer and nicer. Go at her as if she were the corn-market; she won't be half so hard to corner. You have made a name for yourself, and a blamed sight more money than you deserve; you are young--comparatively, I mean." The elder man stroked his shock of iron-gray hair for answer. "Well, at any rate you are a picturesque personage, even if you can't wear riding-clothes." "Doesn't a man look like the devil in these togs?" Austin posed awkwardly in front of a mirror. "There's only one person who can look worse in riding-clothes than a man--that's a woman." "What heresy, particularly in a society doctor! But I agree with you. I learned to ride on her account, you know. As a matter of fact, I hate it. The sight of a horse fills me with terror." Doctor Suydam laughed outright at this. "She tells me that you have a very good seat." "Really!" Austin's eyes gleamed suddenly. "You know I never had a chance to ride when I was a youngster--in fact, I never had an opportunity to do anything except work. That's what makes me so crude and awkward. What I know I have picked up during the last few years." "You make me tired!" declared the former. "You aren't--"