convenient, but if a lie would serve a better
purpose for the moment, it would be brought
into service without hesitation or scruple.
Fortune was his goddess, if he did deference to
any unseen power; tricks and chicanery were
to him helps to rapid and boundless wealth.
"Let the sharpest win, and may the devil take
the hindermost," these were the tenets in his
creed, if he had a creed.

Armed with such ideas of life, "Dodd"
Weaver set out to battle with the world. He
had also his diploma!




CHAPTER XX.

In the course of a few weeks "Dodd" secured a clerkship that was much
to his mind. It was, however, one greatly in advance of his ability to
manage, with his present attainments. If he had believed that
fidelity, honesty, and attention to business were the prime factors of
success, he might have mastered the situation, perhaps. He did not so
believe. On the contrary, he held that the more he could shirk and get
out of, and still draw his salary, the sharper he was. He acted in
accordance with his belief. People usually do!

But business is business. "Dodd" found his employer an exact man--one
who required service by the card. This the young man could not, or