His socks, revealed at the ankles, were scarlet.

Dan was unfamiliar with the menage of such establishments as this, and he wondered whether this might not be an upper servant of a new species peculiar to homes of wealth.

He leaned on his stick, hat in hand, and the big blue eyes of the young man rested upon him with disconcerting gravity.

A door slammed at the rear upon the retreating German, whom this superior functionary had dispatched about his business.

At a moment when the silence became oppressive the young man straightened himself slightly and spoke in a low voice, and with amusement showing clearly in his eyes and about his lips,-- "You're a reporter." "Yes; I'm from the 'Courier.' I'm looking for Mr.Thatcher." "Suppose, suppose--if you're not in a great hurry, you come with me." The pumps, with the scarlet socks showing below the overalls, turned at the end of the broad hall and began ascending the stairs.