When Norman came down to the office next morning, the clerk handed him a note. A glance at the smooth, perfect handwriting told him at once it was from Barbara. He opened it with a smile of pleasant surprise and read with increasing astonishment:

"You are to take breakfast with me this morning in the rose bower of the floral court.

"By order of
"Barbara Bozenta,
"Secretary to the General Manager."

Norman found her alone, seated beside a little table in the bower, her face wreathed in mischievous smiles.

She rose and extended her hand:

"Permit me to introduce you to your new secretary."

"I assure you my delight is only equalled by my surprise," he answered, with boyish banter.

"Yes, I thought it best to take you by surprise. Now that it\'s all settled, I trust we will get on [131]well." She looked at him with demure and charming impudence.

Norman burst into laughter.

"I\'m sure we will!" he answered. "All I require is industry, patience, wisdom, tact, knowledge, sacrifice, absolute obedience, and a joyous desire to assume full responsibility for my mistakes!"

"All of which will come to me," she responded, with mock gravity. "Permit me!"

She led him to the chair she had placed beside the table, and poured a cup of coffee for him.

Norman watched her with keen enjoyment. "I\'ve never seen you in this mood before," he said, quietly.

"You like it?"

"Beyond words! I\'m afraid I\'ll wake up directly and find I\'m dreaming. I\'m sure now, when I look into your eyes, sparkling with fun, that you are a flower nymph, and that your home has always been a rose bower on the sunny slope of a southern hillside."

"Perhaps I\'m just teasing you. Perhaps I won\'t work," she said, glancing at him from the corners of her brown eyes.

"Then you\'ll find it a serious joke," he answered, firmly. "Resignations are not in order. You have chosen your profession. As general [132]manager I h............