"'Then the man outside raised his arm, and held up two fingers, and instantly every truck in the shed dropped to the floor, bang, the men all went and put on their coats, marched out of the freight house--and the strike was on. Well, after that came the policemen and the detectives and the pickets, to say nothing of the reporters. It is about these last that I mean to tell you, for among them I have found this new friend. The other day a young man came into the office to see Clark, our boss. I was attracted by him at once. He was tall, and his smooth-shaven face was refined and thoughtful; I call him good-looking; his eyes were dark and his nose straight and full of character; his lips were thin and level; his hair was not quite black and stopped just on the right side of being curly. He was dressed modestly, but stylishly; I remember he wore gloves--he always does--and I thought him somewhat dudish. But what was my pleasure to see on his waistcoat the little white cross of my fraternity! I rushed up to him instantly, and gave him the grip. He was a Sig., from an Indiana college, and he is a reporter on the _Courier_. His name is James Weston; no, he is no relation to Bob Weston of Macochee at all. I asked him that the first thing; but he is some relation to the Cliffords, distant, I suppose.'" "I wonder if that isn't the young man who visited them summer before last?" asked Mayme. "I'll bet it is!" "No, it can't be," said Lavinia, "I thought of that the very first thing, but you see he says," and Lavinia read on: "'He says he hasn't been there for years. We chatted together for a few minutes and were friends at once. To-morrow night, if I can get off in time, I'm to dine with him at a café down-town. My, but it was good to see some one wearing that little white cross! You see my college training has done me some good after all.'" In their conversation afterward, Lavinia and Mayme celebrated Marley's abilities as a writer, but Lawrence begged Lavinia to read them more, particularly, as he assured her, those parts about herself, saying he could judge better of Marley's abilities after he heard how he treated romantic subjects. "I want to know how he handles the love interest," he said. "Oh, you got that from George Halliday," said Mayme. "It sounds just like him when he's discussing some book none of us has read, doesn't it, Lavinia?" Lavinia admitted that it did sound like Halliday, and Mayme returned to her attack on Lawrence by saying: "What do you know about writing, anyway?" They might have gone farther along this line had not Mrs. Blair entered with a plate of cake and some ice-cream that had been left over from their dessert at supper. These refreshments instantly seemed to affect Mayme with the idea that the call had assumed the formality of a social function, and as she nibbled at her cake, she asked with a polite interest: "Just what is Mr. Marley's position with the railroad, Lavinia?"