'But give me time to think--see me to-morrow.' 'I shall never exchange a word with you after to-night. You can have ten minutes--not a second more,' and I took out my watch to count the time. He seated himself at his desk, and rested his head on his hand for a moment; then turning to me, he said: 'You promise that this interview, and all that has passed, shall never be mentioned by you?' 'I do--never to your injury.' 'David, please write the check,' said the senior partner, as he proceeded himself to draw up the agreement. In a few minutes he handed it to me. It was short, and merely recited that the co-partnership which had theretofore existed between John Hallet, Augustus Cragin, and Henry F. Mandell, under the name and style of Russell, Rollins & Co., was on that day dissolved by mutual consent; said Mandell withdrawing, and assigning the control of all the assets of said firm to said Hallet and Cragin, and releasing to said Hallet any portion of its capital and profits to which he might be entitled. I read the document, and quietly handed it back. 'That will not do, Mr. Hallet. Thirty thousand dollars settles with _you_, his father. I have not, and _shall_ not make any settlement with the firm. David must pay Frank what is his due--no more, no less.' 'But,' began Mr. Hallet. 'I have nothing more to say on the subject, sir.' He drew a deep sigh. The parting with an only son, and with thirty thousand dollars, at one and the same time, affected him deeply. He might have borne the loss of the son; but the loss of so much money rent his small, black soul into fragments. However, he rewrote the paper, and passed it to me. It was all right; and when he had signed and David had witnessed it, I placed it in my pocket-book. Then, with a trembling hand, he handed me the check. It was drawn to my order; and I remarked, as I took it: 'This is not what I require, sir. I want your check, indorsed by David.' 'This is most unaccountable, Mr. Kirke. Do you question my check for thirty thousand dollars?' he asked, his face flushing with anger. 'Oh! no, sir, not at all; but you might stop its payment. With David's indorsement, you would not _dare_ to do it.' 'I will indorse it,' said David; and he quietly proceeded to write another. That cold, hard, soulless man had a wife and children; but that old book-keeper was the only being in all this wide world that he loved! Placing the check with the other paper, I shook David by the hand, and bidding him 'good-night', passed down the old stairway. As Frank is the hero of my history, I will, in another chapter, go back some seventeen years, and tell the reader how he came to be under my control, and how he rose to be a partner in the great house of Russell, Rollins & Co. CORN IS KING.