"Oh, I exchanged that for----" he stopped suddenly, with a startled air. He had given Mrs. Thorpe the five dollars in silver, but she had given him no bill in return. He remembered now, distinctly. He was perfectly sure. "You may have lost it," corrected Mr. Brown gravely. "You must be careful not to attribute its loss to Mrs. Thorpe. She is one of our wealthiest customers. However, you may go back and inquire." Mrs. Thorpe rustled down at Theodore's second summons. Certainly, she had given him the bill! He had probably lost it on the street. Then she rustled upstairs again, and Nora, the maid, showed him out. The brick buildings that radiated the heat, and the dusty streets with their clanging cars, swam before his tired and angry eyes. "A woman that would lie, might steal," he reflected fiercely. "Mrs. Thorpe has that five-dollar bill, together with the change I gave her, in her purse!" He took his way back, in helpless anger and misery, to the store, and reported once more at the desk. "No," said Mr. Brown. "I didn't think Mrs. Thorpe had it. You must be extremely careful what you say. You have either carelessly lost it, or----" "Or what?" demanded Theodore angrily. Mr. Brown flushed in return. "I have noticed since you have been in my employ," he said coldly, "that you have extravagant habits, as well as extravagant friends. It is the shortest road to dishonesty, although I make no accusations. Of course you will make this loss good. Is there any money coming to you?" "Very little. What was coming to me I drew Saturday night," said Theodore, the colour all gone from his face. "Mr. Brown, you are doing me an injustice. I _was_ extremely careless. It is right that I should return the money because of that carelessness. But I am honest, and I have been taught to be truthful. I beg you to believe me when I say that the money is, knowingly or unknowingly, with Mrs. Thorpe. I distinctly remember that she did not give me the bill." Mr. Brown's voice was like ice: "I do not wish to have any more discussion of the matter. The money will be charged to your father until you repay its loss. You may go to dinner." Mr. Hennesy and John Thomas, seated on a little hillock of dirt, were eating their dinner from a bountifully filled dinner pail, when a noontide visitor strode in upon them. The horses looked mildly up from their improvised feed boxes upon Theodore, who, reckless of the polished shoes and blue serge suit, seated himself upon another hillock in their midst. "Mr. Hennesy," he said, coming straight to the point, "have you hired a man yet, to drive that new team you've bought?" "Well," said Mr. Hennesy warily, and confining his gaze to a generous crescent his teeth had described in a quarter of an apple pie, "there's a red-headed man that's been afther the job, an' there's another that's as bald as an acorn----"