"And if I'm not very much mistaken I'll not be long about it, for I have an idea or two in my head already." The next day I again presented myself at the office of Haight & Foster, where I had already applied for a position to the chief clerk.

This time I asked for the head of the firm himself, and I was amused to see that whereas before I had been almost kicked out of the office, I was now treated with the respect due to a possible client.

After a wait of some twenty minutes I was ushered into a large sunny office lined with books and overlooking the lower East River.

Mr.Haight was a wrinkled old man with a bald scalp covered with numerous brown patches about the size of ten-cent pieces.

A fringe of white hair hung about his ears, over one of which was stuck a goose-quill pen.