Evening star., 1896-11-28
CbnDter L.

The office of Monkton & Hopes great
factory hung between heaven and earth
and at the particular moment John Sart-
we'll, manager, stood looking out of the
window toward .he gates. Heaven cor
sisted of brooding London fog suspended
hundred feet above the town, heSitatins
to fall, while earth was represented by a
sticky black-cindered factory yard, bear
ing the imprint of many hundred boots
The office was built between the two huge
buildings known as the ""orks." The sit
uation of the Office had evidently been an
after-thought-it was of wood, while the
two great buildings which it Joined to-
gether as if they were Siamese twins of IN
dustry, were of brick. Although no archi-
tect had ever foreseen the erection of sue
a structure between the two buildings, yet
necessity, the mother of invention, had
given birth to what Sartwen always
claimed was the most conveniently sit
uated Office in London. More aud more
room had been acquired in the big building
as business increased, and the office-tne
soul of the whole thing-had, as it were, to
take up position outside its body.
The addition. then, hung over the road
way that passed between the two build
fngs; it commanded a View Of both front and
back yards, and had therefore, more light
ana air tnan the ONCE S2rtWeIl na0 IOrm-
erly occupied in the left-hand building.
Two rooms at the hack were set apart for
the two members of the firm, while Sart-
wells office in the front was three times
the size of either of these rooms, and ex-
tended across the whole space between TIN
two buildings. This it should be.
for Sartweu did three times the amount Of
work the owners of the business accom-
piished. and. if it came to that. had three
times the brain power of the two members
OF the firm combined who were there
simply because they We're the sons of their
fathers.
Monkton and Hope were timid, cautious,
somewhat irresolute men, as capitalists
should be all the world over. Sartwei was
an iron man, with firm, resolute lips. and
Steely blue eyes, that were most dfscon-
certing to any one who had something not
quite straight to propose. Even the two
partners quailed under these great eyes,
and gave way before them if it came to a
conflict of opinion. Sartwelrs rather curt
IT won't do, you KNOW" always settled
things.
Sartwell knew infinitely more about the
works than they did, for while they had
been to college the future manager was
working his way up into the confidence of
their fathers, and every step he took adj
yanced his position in the factory.
The three men were nearly as possible
of the same age, and the hair of each was
tinged with gray; Sartwell's more than the
others.
A private stairway led from the yard be-
low TO the hall in the suspended building,
which divided the large office Of the man
ager from the two smaller private rooms
of the firm. This stairway was used only
by the three men. The clerks and the pub
lie came in by the main entrance, where a
watchful man sat behind a little arched
oren window. over which was painted the
word Inquiries
Outside in the gloom the two great lamps
over the gate posts f1ared yellow light down
on the cindery roadway and the narrow
street beyond. Through the wide, open
gateway into the narrow, stone-paved
street poured hundreds of workingmen
There was no jostling and they went out
silently, which was unusual. 1t seemed
as if something hovered over them even
more depressing than the great fog cloud
just above their heads. Sartwell, alone in
his office, stood somewhat back from the