A week later Mark received the following letter:
"Mark Mason: Please call at my office as soon as convenient.
"D. Gilbert."
"This letter is from Maud Gilbert's father," said Mark, addressing his mother. "I wonder what he wants."
"Nothing disagreeable, I am sure. Of course you will go."
"I will call to-morrow morning."
Mr. Gilbert was a commission merchant, with an office in the lower part of the city, west of Broadway. Mark obtained leave of absence for an hour agreeing to pay the price usually charged to customers.
He had seen Mr. Gilbert, a stout, portly man of fifty, during his call at the house in Forty-Fifth Street. Therefore when he was admitted to Mr. Gilbert's office, he addressed him not as a stranger but as an old acquaintance.
"I received your note, Mr. Gilbert, and have called according to your request."
"That is right, Mark. Sit down till I have finished looking over my letters. You will find the morning Herald on the table near you."