"Gridley has a streak of that nonsense in him too," says Pyramid. "I only hope he gets it all out of his system by to-morrow night." Well, from all I could hear he did; for there wa'n't any scarehead financial story in the papers, and I guess the bank snarl must have been straightened out all right. What puzzled me for a few days, though, was to think what had become of Marmaduke. He hadn't been around to the studio once; and Pinckney hadn't heard a word from him, either. Pinckney had it all framed up how Marmaduke was off starvin' somewhere. It was only yesterday, too, that I looks up from the desk to see Marmaduke, all got up in an entire new outfit, standin' there smilin' and chipper. "Well, well!" says I. "So you didn't hit the breadline, after all!" "Perchance I deserved it," says he; "but there came one from the forest who willed otherwise." "Ah, cut the josh for a minute," says I, "and tell us what you landed!" "Gladly," says he. "I have been made the salaried secretary of the S. O. S. G. W. H." "Is it a new benefit order," says I, "or what?" "The mystic letters," says he, "stand for the Society for Oiling Squeaky Gulls' Wing Hinges. Mr. Gridley is one member; I am the other." And, say, you may not believe it, but hanged if it wa'n't a fact! He has a desk in Gridley's private office, and once a day he shows up there and scribbles off a foolish thought on the boss's calendar pad. That's all, except that he draws down good money for it. "Also I have had word," says Marmaduke, "that my aged Uncle Norton is very low of a fever." "Gee!" says I. "Some folks are born lucky, though!" "And others," says he, "in the Forest of Arden." CHAPTER XI A LOOK IN ON THE GOAT GAME Pinckney was tellin' me, here awhile back at lunch one day, what terrors them twins of his was gettin' to be. He relates a tragic tale about how they'd just been requested to resign from another private school where they'd been goin' as day scholars. "That is the third this season," says he; "the third, mind you!" "Well, there's more still, ain't there?" says I. "Brilliant observation, Shorty," says he, "also logical and pertinent. Yes, there are several others still untried by the twins." "What you howlin' about, then?" says I. "Because," says he, toyin' with the silver frame that holds the bill of fare, "because it is not my intention to demoralize all the educational institutions of this city in alphabetical order." "G'wan!" says I. "The kids have got to be educated somewhere, haven't they?" "Which is the sad part of it," says Pinckney, inspectin' the dish of scrambled eggs and asparagus tips and wavin' the waiter to do the serving himself. "It means," he goes on, "having a governess around the house, and you know what nuisances they can be."