Mr. Perkins greeted his young guest with marked courtesy.

"Walter delayed telling me of your heroic conduct in saving his life
until last night, Thaddeus. I am sorry. But, according to the old
saying, 'it is never too late to mend.' Therefore, I want to thank
you now."

Mr. Perkins grasped the lad's hands in a firm grip, while Tad, hiding
his embarrassment as best he could, gazed with steady eyes into the
face of the banker.

"I'm sorry he told you, sir. I just pulled him out -- that was all."

The banker laughed.

"Yes, fortunately that was all. But there surely would have been more
if you had not, Walter would have drowned. How you managed to get him
out, without both of you going down, is more than I can understand."

"He dived in and swam out with me," Walter informed him.

"Quite so. And you wished my son to say nothing about it?" added the
banker with a twinkle in his eyes, not wholly lost on the boy who was
standing so rigidly before him, steeling himself to the most trying
ordeal he ever had experienced.

"I did, sir."

"Walter respected your wishes in the matter. But something came up
last evening that induced him to make a clean breast of the whole