Santa Clauss Partner | Page 5

It would quite cut into the amount he had already decided to lay by. He must draw in somewhere: he was worth only--the line of figures slipped in before his eyes with its lantern-slide coldness.
He reflected. He must cut down on his charities. He could not reduce the sum for the General Hospital Fund; he had been giving to that a number of years.--Nor that for the asylum; Mrs. Wright was the president of that board, and had told him she counted on him.--Hang Mrs. Wright! It was positive blackmail!--Nor the pew-rent; that was respectable--nor the Associated Charities; every one gave to that. He must cut out the smaller charities.
So he left off the Children's Hospital Christmas-tree Fund, and the soup-kitchen, and a few insignificant things like them into which he had been worried by Mrs. Wright and other troublesome women. The only regret he had was that taken together these sums did not amount to a great deal. To bring the saving up he came near cutting out the hospital. However, he decided not to do so. Mrs. Wright believed in him. He would leave out one of the pictures he had intended to buy; he would deny himself, and not cut out the big charity. This would save him the trouble of refusing Mrs. Wright and would also save him a good deal more money.
Once more, at the thought of his self-denial, that ray of wintry sunshine passed across Livingstone's cold face and gave it a look of distinction--almost like that of a marble statue.
Again he relapsed into reflection. His eyes were resting on the pane outside of which the fine snow was filling the chilly afternoon air in flurries and scurries that rose and fell and seemed to be blowing every way at once. But Livingstone's eyes were not on the snow. It had been so long since Livingstone had given a thought to the weather, except as it might affect the net earnings of railways in which he was interested, that he never knew what the weather was, and so far as he was concerned there need not have been any weather. Spring was to him but the season when certain work could be done which in time would yield a crop of dividends; and Autumn was but the time when crops would be moved and stocks sent up or down.
So, though Livingstone's eyes rested on the pane, outside of which the flurrying snow was driving that meant so much to so many people, and his face was thoughtful--very thoughtful--he was not thinking of the snow, he was calculating profits.
CHAPTER III
A noise in the outer office recalled Livingstone from his reverie. He aroused himself, almost with a start, and glanced at the gilt clock just above the stock-indicator. He had been so absorbed that he had quite forgotten that he had told the clerks to wait for him. He had had no idea that he had been at work so long. He reflected, however, that he had been writing charity-cheques: the clerks ought to appreciate the fact.
He touched a button, and the next second there was a gentle tap on the door, and Clark appeared. He was just the person to give just such a tap: a refined-looking, middle-aged, middle-sized man, with a face rather pale and a little worn; a high, calm forehead, above which the grizzled hair was almost gone; mild, blue eyes which beamed through black-rimmed glasses; a pleasant mouth which a drooping, colorless moustache only partly concealed, and a well-formed but slightly retreating chin. His figure was inclined to be stout, and his shoulders were slightly bent. He walked softly, and as he spoke his voice was gentle and pleasing. There was no assertion in it, but it was perfectly self-respecting. The eyes and voice redeemed the face from being commonplace.
"Oh!--Mr. Clark, I did not know I should have been so long about my work. I was so engaged getting my book straight for you, and writing--a few cheques for my annual contributions to hospitals, etc.,--that the time slipped by--"
The tone was unusually conciliatory for Livingstone; but he still retained it in addressing Clark. It was partly a remnant of his old time relation to Mr. Clark when he, yet a young man, first knew him, and partly a recognition of Clark's position as a man of good birth who had been unfortunate, and had a large family to support.
"Oh! that's all right, Mr. Livingstone," said the clerk, pleasantly.
He gathered up the letters on the desk and was unconsciously pressing them into exact order.
"Shall I have these mailed or sent by a messenger?"
"Mail them, of course," said Livingstone. "And Clark, I want you to--"
"I thought possibly that, as to-morrow is--" began the clerk in explanation, but stopped as Livingstone continued speaking without