“Little by little, I have gathered together the threads of the business, and I now have a strong legal grip upon the situation, which enables me to decline this alliance with no possible jeopardy to the property.
“But one consideration restrains me: I need a man of enterprise and address to succeed him. And now,” she added with a simple, business-like directness, “I have a suggestion to offer:
“You ransack Baxter Street to-morrow for Dickey Series C, and come with it to this address,” and she placed a small card in his hand.
“We can reach the end of the story, in which I am exceedingly interested, and when we have set our minds at rest on that point, I will give myself the pleasure of listening to whatever recommendations you may offer as to your fitness to take the place of the retiring management.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Dennis as he went through an absurd pantomime of punching himself, “an’ is it awake you are, Dennis Muldoon?”
At this the lady, with a cordial smile, indicated that the interview was at an end, and as she turned to depart, said: “You will come, then, to-morrow night?”
And Dennis, hat in hand, with an unmistakable deference of attitude and demeanor, cheerily responded with a query that required no further answer than a rosy acknowledgment:
“Will a duck swim?”