I.

"No, William Barker, you cannot have my daughter's hand in
marriage until you are her equal in wealth and social position."

The speaker was a haughty old man of some sixty years, and the
person whom he addressed was a fine-looking young man of
twenty-five.

With a sad aspect the young man withdrew from the stately
mansion.

II.

Six months later the young man stood in the presence of the
haughty old man.

"What! YOU here again?" angrily cried the old man.

"Ay, old man," proudly exclaimed William Barker. "I am here,
your daughter's equal and yours?"

The old man's lips curled with scorn. A derisive smile lit up
his cold features; when, casting violently upon the marble center
table an enormous roll of greenbacks, William Barker cried--

"See! Look on this wealth. And I've tenfold more! Listen, old
man! You spurned me from your door. But I did not despair. I
secured a contract for furnishing the Army of the -- with beef--"