“There is one thing about your compliments, Ben,” she said. “They may lack grace; but they are unmistakable. Ridiculous! There are hundreds of girls in Mailsburg better looking than I am.” “Now, did I say anything about looks?” he asked her wickedly. “It’s your sweet disposition that makes you so many friends.” “Like Jim Mayberry, I suppose?” she said in some disgust. They continued to wrangle in a friendly way. Mrs. Clayton, frankly yawning, bade them good-night. The moment her mother withdrew Ethel’s manner changed. She removed herself a little from Benway’s vicinity and her witticisms ceased. “I believe I shall retire early myself, Ben,” she said. “This has been a trying day. I--I shall be glad to have you in the offices with us.” “Shall you?” There was something in his tone that increased her seriousness. “If I can do anything there to help you, let me do it,” she said earnestly. “You know we have always been such chums, Ben.” “Haven’t we?” Again the disturbing accent. She started to rise. He caught her hand. “Wait,” he said. “Let me say a little something to you, Ethel.” “Ben! Ben! Had you better? You know----” “I know--everything you can tell me,” he interrupted bitterly. “I know I am only half a man. A fellow shy a wing hasn’t much chance in this world. I ought to know it after all my experience. Especially as the folks have no money to back me. But I have a whole brain----” “I’ve always told you that, Ben,” she hastened to say. “A perfectly good brain. I would not harp so much on that withered arm.” “No, perhaps you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t unless the old arm happened to be hitched to your shoulder, as it is to mine. No, it is easy enough to say to a cripple, ‘Forget it.’ Wait till you try it yourself! Though, Heaven forbid! I hope you will never suffer such a handicap, Ethel.” “Oh, Benway!” “Now, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, Ethel,” he returned, and patted her hand. “Fact is, I feel rather toppy to-night myself. I know that Mr. Barton is taking me on for just what he thinks is in me, and no more. He must think that a withered arm will not make me less useful around the offices of the Hapwood-Diller Company. Influence is not getting me this footing. “And he was kind enough to say,” went on the boy, “that he saw no reason why I should not rise there as he had risen. He told me how he began in one of the shops and worked up. Of course, I am not beginning just in that way; but he says that a practical knowledge of the mechanical end of the business is not absolutely necessary to advancement. “If I make good, Ethel--if I prove that the stuff is in me to get up in the business world, after all----” “Of all your friends I shall be the one who will be the most delighted, Ben,” she interrupted, rising now with finality. “Don’t forget that I have always said it was in you to make something of yourself. Even if your parents could not afford to send you to college, I know--absolutely know--you will make your mark.”