"I will consider what you have said, Strong," replied Mr. Coddington after a pause. "I will acknowledge that I was ignorant of the fact that the spot meant anything to the people of the community. If the conditions are as you say we may be able to find a solution for the problem. May we consider this interview at an end?" Although the remark was in the form of a question the committee felt itself dismissed and uncomfortably the men filed into the corridor. "We've gained nothing!" was Bryant's first word when they found themselves alone. "We've only succeeded in antagonizing Mr. Coddington and solidified his intention of taking the field. We might have got somewhere if Strong had not put his foot in it. What possessed you to pitch into the president like that, young fellow?" "What made you speak at all?" put in Carmachel. "Don't you know your place better than to think a rich man like Mr. Coddington is going to stand for having a kid like you lay down the law to him? How ever did you dare? Your job is gone--that's certain. I'm sorry, too, for we all like you here at the works." "Oh, Peter! Peter! Why did you say it?" wailed Nat Jackson. "I know you had the best of intentions, but don't you see that you've upset the whole thing?" There was something very like a sob in Nat's tone. Poor Peter! From every hand came reproaches. If only he had not spoken! His impulse, good at heart, had been one of mistaken zeal. It was not that he himself had lost his cause--he had lost it for hundreds of men in whom he had become interested, and whom he had struggled to serve. Very wretched the boy was for the remainder of the day; when night came he dreaded to go home. What would his father say to him? Peter might have saved himself this worry, for when he entered the dining-room and sat down to dinner he found the good-humor of his father quite undisturbed and no allusion was made to the day's occurrence. Surely this was carrying out to the letter the agreement they had made. Peter Coddington was his son and he treated him as such; but to Peter Strong, the boy of the tannery, he had nothing to say. Miserably Peter waited for the opportunity to offer explanation or apology. It did not come and all chance for securing it vanished when, directly after the coffee was served, Mr. Coddington rose, announced that he had an engagement, and was whirled off in the motor-car. He did not return until long after his son was asleep.