Back in the offices, Mr. Schofield continued the work of going through his mail, another big batch of which had just been brought in. Among the letters he opened, was a long, portentous-looking one from general headquarters. He glanced through it and chuckled. "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked. "That narrow escape at Byers has convinced the general officers that we need a double track there. That shaking up they got did more good than all the talk we could have talked. We can go ahead with it as soon as we like," and he tossed the letter across the desk to the chief-dispatcher, his face shining. "I don't know anything that could have pleased me more," he added. "It means so much to this division. Do you know, George, I'm glad things happened just as they did! Providence certainly had its eye on us that time!" CHAPTER XVII ALLAN ENTERTAINS A VISITOR Allan, meanwhile, had assumed the day trick at Byers Junction--a position carrying with it increased responsibilities, and, it may be added, an increased salary. He had long ago started an account at the Wadsworth Savings Bank, to which he was now able to make a substantial addition every month. Only one incident served to mar the pleasure of those first days in his new position. Jim Anderson had come to him one evening with a face in which joy and sorrow struggled for the mastery. "Read that," he said, and thrust a letter into Allan's hand. Allan opened it and read. It was a letter from an uncle, a brother of Jim's father. The two had been estranged by family differences years before, and the brother, who had moved to Philadelphia and engaged in business there, had dropped entirely out of the other's life. Now he was writing that his own wife and child were dead, that he was getting old and lonely, and that he would be glad to have his brother's son and widow live with him. He could offer the latter a good home, and the former would be sent to college, and drilled to succeed his uncle in business. Although he did not say so, it was evident from the letter that if Jim proved worthy, he would take the place left vacant by the death of his uncle's own boy. "Well," asked Jim, when Allan had finished, "what do you think of it?" "Think of it? Why, I think it's fine! Don't you?" "I don't know," said Jim, hesitatingly. "For one thing, I don't want to leave Wadsworth. For another thing, I want to be a machinist." "Well, here's a chance to be a big one. There are scientific courses at college which will give you just what you need. You won't have to work in the shops all your life--you can be bigger than all that." "Then you'd advise me to go?" "I certainly should," answered Allan, warmly. "Though I'll miss you awfully," he added. "I tell you what," said Jim, "maybe I can persuade uncle to--" But Allan interrupted him with a shake of the head.