"Not all of them, only the prettiest!" laughed young Denton, gayly.

"Surely a man can flirt a little without doing any harm, and the girls all like it--why shouldn't they, Miss Marvin?"

"But do you ever think what this flirting means?" persisted Faith, who had lost all her timidity and was plunging into the subject in earnest.

"It means a good time and a lot of money spent," said the young fellow, still laughing. "But why not spend it on the girls? Don't they help the governor to make it?"

"Oh, Mr. Denton!" cried Faith, who was now thoroughly shocked. "Is it possible that you are speaking now of your own father?"

"I certainly was," was the unabashed answer. "I did not mean to be disrespectful; that is only a habit."

"A very bad habit," said Faith, reprovingly, "but to return to the subject of poor Mary's funeral. Do you think if we asked for a day we would get it? You know, the store is closed to-day; they might not like to lose another."

"Of course, they wouldn't like it, but that don't make any difference,"

said young Denton, grandly. "What was Jack Forbes's funeral to you clerks, anyway? The closing to-day was only a bluff--one of the bluffs that all stores put up to keep the good opinion of the public. Now, this affair is entirely different. This girl was one of you, and you ought to be allowed to attend her funeral!"

"Have you spoken to your father?" asked Faith, after a minute.

"Not yet, but I'm going to. Now this is my plan: You get up a pet.i.tion and get the clerks to sign it and then you go yourself to old Forbes to-morrow. He'll be worse than a brute if he dares to refuse you!

Meanwhile I'll see my father at home to-night. He's a little soft on me yet, even if he is a hard-headed old sinner!"

"Oh, Mr. Denton, don't say such things!" cried Faith, "I will never talk to you again if you persist in speaking so of your father!"

The young man threw back his head and had a hearty laugh.

"You're the most innocent little kitten I ever saw," he said softly; "it's a deuced shame that you have to work for a living!"

Faith's eyes blazed angrily before he had hardly spoken the words.

"I am glad to be able to earn my living!" she said sternly; "it is ever so much n.o.bler than to be living on one's parents!"

The flush that mantled the young man's brow showed that her words had struck home, but he tried to turn it off with a neatly put compliment.

"I'm a sad beggar, I know, Miss Marvin, but I'm going to reform! I never wanted to be different until, well, until now--to be honest."

"You are not serious, Mr. Denton; I see laughter in your eyes," said Faith, smiling. "But I will get up the pet.i.tion at once, as you suggest, and I shall pray that our appeal may not be in vain."

She had paused at a street corner and was extending her hand to say good-by to the young man when a woman pa.s.sed them and jostled Faith rudely.

It was Maggie Brady, the girl who loved Jim Denton. As she faced them for a second both saw that her eyes gleamed dangerously. Without even stopping she made a remark to Faith--the words were hissed between her teeth with the venom of a serpent.

"You'll be sorry for this, you little hypocrite! I thought you were too pious to be altogether healthy!"

Faith turned as pale as death as the woman strode on; James Denton was smiling in a half-hearted manner.

"That is the result of your flirting," Faith managed to say at last.

"Oh, Mr. Denton, can't you see what you've done? You've made that woman love you, and now she is going straight to destruction!"

CHAPTER XVII.

THE PARTNERS DO A LITTLE TALKING.

Mr. Forbes was at his office in the store early the next morning after his interview with Mr. Watkins. He would have been glad to stay away for another day, but there were many details of the business that needed his attention. Sam Watkins, his office boy, was not waiting for him as usual, but Mr. Forbes was confident that he could find him when he wanted him. He looked around for his a.s.sistant, but he was absent also.

This fact was more annoying, because it aroused his suspicions.

"Bolted!" he muttered with an angry frown. "Ten to one he's run away and I'll never get my money."

Then he smiled a little, for he knew that Watkins had no funds with which to make his escape, but even if he had there were many ways of catching him.

As he seated himself at his desk both of his partners entered, and there were expressions of condolence offered in a punctilious manner.

"Sometimes I think that we fathers are all wrong," remarked Mr. Denton, after the condolences were over. "We bind ourselves hand and foot in the bondage of business, and all for what--our wives and children! If they needed such a sacrifice we would not begrudge it, but the more they have the more they want, until the head of the family is a mere automaton--a machine to pamper useless folly."

This was a lengthy speech for the senior partner to make, as he was naturally a reticent man, who allowed others to do the talking.

"You may be right," remarked Mr. Day pompously, "still, you must admit that wealth brings advantages even to us who slave--we can drop business cares and go abroad now and then--our time is our own beyond a certain figure."

"I have never reached that figure," said Mr. Forbes, very dryly, "and further, when I drop the reins the horses run wild, for be as careful as you may in the choice of employees there is never one who will not take advantage of your absence--the exceptions are so rare that they are scarcely worth mentioning."

"Well, I for one am getting discouraged," said Mr. Denton. "There's that boy of mine, Jim; how is he repaying my efforts?"

There was no answer to his question, but he did not expect one. After a moment's silence he finished his observations.

"If that boy had a million he would spend it in a month, yet no one has ever yet accused him of being vicious. I've set him up in business and everything else--he's had money and an example, but with it all, what is he?"

"Perhaps you are not strict enough," suggested Mr. Day, who was thanking his stars at that moment that he had no children.

"It will take something besides discipline to make a man of Jim."

Mr. Denton sighed as if he was very unhappy.

"Oh, he'll marry and settle down some day," said Mr. Day, laughing.

"When he has a family to support he'll take life more seriously."

"I wish he had one," said Mr. Denton, speaking quickly, "but I hope he'll marry a working girl and not a 'society lady.'"

Both of his partners looked up in unfeigned surprise, but it was evident that the words had been said deliberately.

"There's a girl, a packer, down in the ribbon department. I've only seen her once, but she's a perfect beauty. That's the kind of a girl that would make a good wife; she's not afraid of work and she's honestly religious."

Mr. Forbes and Mr. Day were almost gasping now, but Mr. Denton went right on as though his words were not extraordinary.

"When that Miss Jennings died this girl held her in her arms. She's not over seventeen, yet death did not even frighten her. In that poor girl's last hour she was her only comfort, and if I ever saw an angel I saw one at that moment."

Some one tapped on the door, but no one rose to open it. Mr. Denton waited a moment and then went on with his subject.