She had a clear and particular remembrance of the circumstances surrounding the receipt of the order from the Norville company, Barton’s decision to refuse to fill it, his reason for so doing, and all. The way in which she had shown the general manager how to refuse the order without giving offence could not easily be forgotten. Mr. Barton had said that the running of the factory on double time, or crowding the shops with extra workmen, meant a distinct loss of profit rather than a gain for the Hapwood-Diller Company. The factory was not arranged for such increase of output. More than one concern has been ruined by such false prosperity. Here Mayberry was planning to put into execution exactly the plan vetoed by the absent general manager’s good sense. Yet, knowing how the contracts for their product stood, Ethel believed that such increase in working hours would be necessary if the Bogata order was to be filled on time. There was a catch there. She felt it. She was convinced that the superintendent had more knowledge of the subject than he was willing to admit. It all puzzled the girl. Why should Jim Mayberry be so determined to balk Mr. Barton’s will? And in this particular instance? As far as she had been able to see the superintendent had done nothing in his conduct of the factory’s affairs which would have either displeased Barton or was contrary to the latter’s methods. Why was the superintendent so determined to favor the Bogata Company? She remembered clearly that the general manager of the Hapwood-Diller Company was positive of the irresponsibility of the Bogata people. There was no gainsaying that. She was positive he had not changed his mind, involving the destruction of the letter she had written and Barton had signed, the removal of the carbon copy from the files, and the filing of the schedule of the Bogata Company’s order. No! she would not believe Frank Barton had done all that and said nothing about it to either Mayberry or herself. Yet, if the manager had not done it, _who had_? Who would be benefited by such a favor to the Bogata people? It might be actually disastrous to the Hapwood-Diller Company--and that thought frightened Ethel. She did not know what to do. That is, what to do to halt the line of conduct Mayberry had plainly determined to follow. She figured up the schedule for factory stock again. Between four and five thousand dollars for special grade raw material, useless except to the Bogata people, was included in it. Knowing well how carefully Barton had watched the outlay for stock for months--how narrow the line was between profit and loss in every department indeed--Ethel quite realized that this single purchase would make a very bad showing upon the books of the Hapwood-Diller Company, unless the Bogata order was finished and was paid for.