"Bully!" said Van Dorn. "I suppose he'll want to buy some stock later on, though." Barrifield looked wise. "That's what I suspected," he admitted. "Well, if he does us a good turn now, we might let him have a share or two later, eh, fellows?" The others assented eagerly. They were not to be outdone in liberality. They knew nothing of this new acquisition, but Barrifield's description appealed to them. "We'll put him down-stairs with Bates," reflected Perner. "What's his name, Barry?" asked Van Dorn. "Hazard--Colonel Hazard. Officer in the Civil War. All the big battles. If we got pinched before the returns come he'd loan us money, too." "That's good," said Perner. "We may need it." They studied the bill of fare intently. "They serve all portions for two here, don't they?" asked Perner, rather cautiously, at last. A waiter standing near by replied in the affirmative. "That soup looks good," suggested Van Dorn. "Creme of tomatoes with rice. Suppose we try two portions of that?" Livingstone hastily referred to the price, which he was gratified to find was unusually moderate. "By gad, yes," he said. "Tomato soup--that's it! It's good and substantial." "Filling," agreed Van Dorn. "And corn-beef hash," said Perner. "I haven't had any corn-beef hash for a dog's age." "Let's see," said Livingstone and Van Dorn together. There was another hasty and surreptitious reference to the price. "Hash, that's it!" suddenly exclaimed Barrifield, who had also been studying the various economies set forth on the rather elaborate list. "Nice brown hash without the poached egg or any trimmings. Just good, plain, old-fashioned hash! Two portions of soup and two of hash will make a lunch fit for a king. It makes my mouth water to think about it. What shall we have to drink?" "I find it interferes with my work, afternoons," said Perner. "Nothing for me." "Me, too," agreed Van Dorn. "I'm going to do without even coffee in the middle of the day." "Same here," said Livingstone. "How about pie?" suggested Barrifield, wistfully. Perner's eyes, too, grew hungry at the sound of the word, but he maintained silence. A peculiar smile grew about Van Dorn's mouth. "They won't serve two portions of pie for four of us, I suppose," he said. There was a laugh in which all joined, and the flimsy wall of pretense was swept away. "Let's own up, boys," said Barrifield, "it's a matter of economy just now with all of us. We'll be lunching at Del's this time next year, but for a few months we want to go a little slow. Let's have pie, though, once more, anyway." IX IN THE SANCTUM Perner's days were not without compensations. There was correspondence with certain celebrities whom they had decided to engage for the coming year, and to be addressed by these as "Dear Mr. Perner," and even as "My dear Perner" more than once, was worth the foregoing of certain luxuries of a grosser nature.