“Well, then, I won’t. Oh, dear! that’s a promise, isn’t it? And I protested I wouldn’t. I suppose you’ll think that it is just like a woman. But I’ll never make you another promise--never.” “Oh, don’t say that, Miss Sartwell. I would promise you anything.” “Very well. Promise me you will tell my father you were here.” The girl laughed as she saw his discomfiture when she so promptly took him at his word. “There,” she cried, gleefully, “you see, you didn’t mean what you said. I really believe you are afraid of my father.” “I am.” “That’s very funny. I should like to tell him that. I can’t imagine any one being afraid of him.” “Perhaps you have never seen him when he is angry.” “Oh, yes, I have; but I just sit quiet and say nothing. He is never violent, when angry, as some men are, but his eyes half close, and his lips are set tight, and he doesn’t care to be spoken to just then; so that’s why I don’t speak. He was angry with you that night, was he not?” “What night, Miss Sartwell?” asked Marsten, almost holding his breath. . “The night at the office when I came in. The first time you ever spoke to me. Don’t you remember?” “I shall never forget it,” Marsten said, in a hushed voice. “Oh, you take things too much to heart, I can see that. You shouldn’t mind a little disappointment, nor think my father hard because he refused you. I spoke up for you at the time, as I told you yesterday, and I’m afraid I didn’t further your interests by doing so, for father thinks women shouldn’t interfere in business.” They were seated opposite one another, the girl bending forward in friendly confidential attitude, the young man unable to take his eyes from her, listening, like one in a dream, to the entrancing murmur of her speech. “You spoke up for me?” he repeated, as if soliloquizing. “Yes, and father said----” The girl paused, embarrassed, remembering that what had been said had not been complimentary to her listener. “What did he say?” asked Marsten, breathlessly. “Well, you know, he thought you too young and inexperienced for a responsible position, and you are not very old, are you? But by and by, when you have more experience, I am sure he will listen to you. The great thing is to gain his confidence,--at least that is what I should try to do.” “Yes, I should like to win his confidence,” said Marsten, dolefully. “Oh, it’s not difficult. All that is required is to do your duty. I think it’s nothing against a young man that he is ambitious. That ought to be in his favour, especially with a man like my father, because he has always been very ambitious himself: and I think the great drawback with workingmen is that they do not seem to care whether they better their positions or not. You can’t do anything for a man who won’t help himself: and you are ambitious, aren’t you?” “Very. Too much so, I sometimes think.”