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26 aware that the two men had drifted from their business discussion into matters more personal. Mr. Roper frequently talked about his family. He was very proud of it. He had two boys and a girl. He kept a picture of them on his desk.

"Here's the latest of my Jack," Ada heard him say to her father, and he took out a small kodak picture from his pocket, and laid it on the desk before Marcus. "In overalls," he went on. "I tell you what, Marcus, that boy's got the stuff in him. I just suggested it, and, quick as a wink, off came the white flannels, and on went the blue jeans. He's given up a month of golf and swimming just to show his father he's no mollycoddle. Been working six days a week, in a machine-shop, for a whole month now. I won't deny I'm a bit cocky about him."

Ada's heart went out in sudden sympathy to her father. She understood now. Oh, why couldn't there have been one boy—just one!

She suffered as she waited for her father's reply.

"Look here, John," he said, tossing the picture aside, and leaning abruptly forward with his elbow on his knee. "My girl's been working in a hot, down-town office, six days a week for two months, and no suggestion from me. My girl's given up a month in Connecticut, and a trip to