Other callers were almost as quickly disposed of, and at the end of an hour Stacy found himself again alone.
But not apparently in a very satisfied mood.

After a few moments of purely mechanical memoranda-making, he rose abruptly and opened a small drawer in a cabinet, from which he took a letter still in its envelope.
It bore a foreign postmark.

Glancing over it hastily, his eyes at last became fixed on a concluding paragraph.

"I hope," wrote his correspondent, "that even in the rush of your big business you will sometimes look after Barker.

Not that I think the dear old chap will ever go wrong--indeed, I often wish I was as certain of myself as of him and his insight; but I am afraid we were more inclined to be merely amused and tolerant of his wonderful trust and simplicity than to really understand it for his own good and ours.