CHAPTER VI.
"_If the bowl had been stronger My tale had been longer_." Steve entered Mitchell's office with the painful uprightness and precise carriage of one who has lunched not wisely but rather too well.

His speech, too, was of ponderous brevity.

The man of affairs chided him with fatherly kindness.
"This won't do, my boy--this won't do.

I like you, Thompson.

I'm sorry--I'm pained to see this.