This fact was more annoying, because it aroused his suspicions.
"Bolted!" he muttered with an angry frown. "Ten to one he's run away and
I'll never get my money."
Then he smiled a little, for he knew that Watkins had no funds with
which to make his escape, but even if he had there were many ways of
catching him.
As he seated himself at his desk both of his partners entered, and there
were expressions of condolence offered in a punctilious manner.
"Sometimes I think that we fathers are all wrong," remarked Mr. Denton,
after the condolences were over. "We bind ourselves hand and foot in the
bondage of business, and all for what--our wives and children! If they
needed such a sacrifice we would not begrudge it, but the more they have
the more they want, until the head of the family is a mere automaton--a
machine to pamper useless folly."
This was a lengthy speech for the senior partner to make, as he was
naturally a reticent man, who allowed others to do the talking.
"You may be right," remarked Mr. Day pompously, "still, you must admit
that wealth brings advantages even to us who slave--we can drop business
cares and go abroad now and then--our time is our own beyond a certain
figure."
"I have never reached that figure," said Mr.
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