exempted off. Nine boards out of ten, if they'd had a man from
Orham on 'em, would have gone by what that man said in a case like
Leander's. And Phineas, he was movin' heavens and earth to get one
of his friends put on as the right Orham man. And now--NOW, by
godfreys domino, they've put on the ONE man that Phin can't
influence, that hates Phin worse than a cat hates a swim. Oh, you
ought to heard Phineas go on when I told him. He'd just got off
the train, as you might say, so nobody'd had a chance to tell him.
I was the fust one, you see. So--"

"Was Leander there?"

"No, he wan't. There wan't nobody in the store but Susie Ellis,
that keeps the books there now, and Abner Burgess's boy, that runs
errands and waits on folks when everybody else is busy. That was a
funny thing, too--that about Leander's not bein' there. Susie said
she hadn't seen him since just after breakfast time, half past
seven o'clock or so, and when she telephoned the Babbitt house it
turned out he hadn't been there, neither. Had his breakfast and
went out, he did, and that's all his step-ma knew about him. But
Phineas, he. . . . Eh? Ain't that the bell? Customer, I presume
likely. Want me to go see who 'tis, Shavin's--Jed, I mean?"


CHAPTER II


But the person who had entered the outer shop saved Mr. Bearse the
trouble. He, too, disregarded the "Private" sign on the door of
the inner room. Before Gabriel could reach it that door was thrown