"I said a capable man, Mr. Pease," replied Mather. "The boy is green and flighty."
"Yes, I know," said Pease. "But isn't he worth the trial?"
Mather rose and began to pace the office. Did he dare trust anything in Jim's hands? "You promised me," he reminded, "that I should have full control over the business."
"So you shall, so you shall," soothed Pease. "But a trial? Come, now!"
Between respect for his employer, affection for Beth, and interest in Wayne himself, Mather saw that he was caught. "You're too good for words!" he said, and yielded.
So the position was offered to Jim, and gave Beth a happy opening to her engagement. Amid all the presents which, according to the custom that ignores the chance of a broken betrothal, came pouring in, nothing pleased Beth so much as the fact that now it was open to her Jim to make his way in the world.
[CHAPTER XV]
Which Develops the Colonel's Financial Strategy