The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-08
CHAPTER KY. The Poet in the office.

nlOnl IOunQ nllnSen dWdiN0 ehiiN l dressed-in a wide, sonorous, empty house. The doctor and all the Healthy Family were asleep. Some would sleep for hours. Others would come yawning down about s. But all were equally ig- norant that the third son of the house idle, dreamy Philip-had begun his life's career. It was q clear morning, with the sun showing well above the wavy outline of the Keir hills to the east
 The bells of the iron works were clang- ing, the conches blowing from all the pitheads far and near. Presently the night shift would be coming up. and it was Phil's duty to be down in the little office which had been erected near the decent of No fer Vic Morris to do his paper work in. What he was expected to do, or how he was to do it, Phil did not know. But he knew that Vic Morris must nec- essarily spend a good many hours each day underground. And so, with new kind of provision not at all natural to him, he routed out and slipped into his pockets several dusty volumes of Tod hunter, together with an old Colenso's s arithmetic. But he quite forgot all about any dinner.
 He was standing with his hands in his pockets, a little chill from his early ris- ing, when Vic Morris arrived, his morn- ing fold of thought double-barring nis brow. Morris started at sight of Phil Calmont, and for a moment that youth thought he was going to deny all knowl- edge of him. The next he nodded brusque- 1y, but kindly.
 That's right, you are on time," he said, there is much to be done. See that file of books, these are patent specifica- tions. Run through all of them for the last 14 years, and mark the places or ev- erything that deals with the ventilation of mines. l am going below So long; l in loa aft w find pens and paper about"
 And Vie Morris, without further instruc tions to his new aid, was gone. Phil found it very lonely, left to himself in that small wooded house; the German stove in one corner scrupulously clean, and the stoveppe only used to hang oiled paper copies of plans upon, the walls three deep in sections" geological and typographical, colored with the most death dealing reds and far-reaehing blues.
 But Phil soon found paper and blot ter He had q fountain pen in his pocket He took rapid glance through the vol umes to get the scale of his work, and then lost himself for many hours. Phil Calnont had natural quickness of un- derstanding, and, instead of merely mark ing the places in the volumes of reports, he added to each reference a brief re- sume of the special features of the in- vention, so far as he was able to under
 
 sketching roughly, but with sufficient cor rectness to convey an idea. He added, therefore many jottings of apparatus, and when Vic Morris returned at o'clock he found his new hand still at his work. quite a solid pile of notes skewered on the desk and the last volume of the pat ents' series in course of being digested
 He stood a moment in astonshment Truly, it seemed that there were many things that he must take back. He did not speak at once, but while Phil con- tinued his eager search, his eager finger scrambling mp one page and down an- other. his fountain pen scrbbling fever ishly, and his mind happier and more content than ever he had known it, Vic Morris picked up page after page. All was in order, every pertinent case num- bered and analysed, the technical words, at the meaning of which Phil could only have the Vaguest guess, written very plain: especially when Vic glanced at the unpretending drawings, each of which told it's tale to his experienced eye, he could not refrain from clapping his pupil on the back with hearty, 'You'n do, youll doi'-which was the best reward he could have made the worker at the close of his first day of business life.
 "All thati' cried Vic Morris heartily. "I will wager that you did not take long over your dnner.'
 Phil was aghast. It seemed that he had neglected a part of his duty.
 q forgot all about it." he said peni- tently
 Great Stephensonr' cried the engineer. ''have you not had bite? You must take 1t now"
 q forgot to bring any" said Phil with shame deeper on his face. You see, I was so keen to get out of the house."
 Vic nodded. He understood that. He understood, also, how he had misjudged his rival. But he was by no means man to waste time in mere sympathy. He banged the door. and took score of strides to the foremen's canteen. from which presently he burst in with an arm full of potted daintes, half a chicken, sui ficient good bread. and pat of butter
 ''There,' he said, q never saw such a fellow-to go without his dinner!'
 And, as the lad ate and drank, Vic looked over the notes he had ordered him to make. more, perhaps, as an exercise than anything else, and murmured soft ly to himself: There will not be such an engineers draughtsman and assistant anywhere when have done with himl No, not in Britain. Perhaps even an en- gineer some dayn'
 And he watched him eat with something like smile of pleasure on his hard face.
 "Yes. I will make man of him." he said, and. if possible, an engineer. So that if the beast beats me with-with--' he missed out the name-"She will at least get man, in spite of her i'll taste!"
 CHAPTER XVI
 Cross Questions-Crooked Answers.
 It is characteristic of the two men that their new relationship made no difference to their rivalry with regard to Vida Bryan. Regularly every Sunday the broad shoulders of the underground engineer were to be seen toworeing above the de- won't in tho C,amerOniau I<irlx of tha Hill As often as not, also, Vic walked homo with her, especially when Dick Finnan, detained by his position as ruling elder, was unable to leave the vestry at once.
 In the afternoon Phil Calmont, whose father was a pillar of the Valley Kirk, was, of course, handicapped to some ex- tent But as every alternate Sabbath evening the Valley Kirk shut its door in order to join congregations with the Kirk on the Hill, and vice versa, Phil was able to recoup himself literally. But, for some reason best known to herself, ever since the night of the meeting in the cottage at the Glebe End Gate. Vida had removed tho light of her countenance from both Vie Morris and Phil. not perhaps. to the same degree but still markedly enough to make the latter young man demand reason.
 And the reason she gave was certainly curious one.
 They were walking slowly homeward-- that is. in the direction of Glebe End-by the "short cut through the woods. The tall trunks of the Scots frs warmed by