them, and Donald is in the Calcutta Parliament. We keep to the front, uncle, wherever we are." "That is what we ought to do. I hope to see Jansen Kelder M.P. in the English House."

Jan could still blush at a great and improbable compliment but he also looked up at his uncle with a smile so bright that it denied that shake of his head which appeared to negative his uncle's aspiration.

"They must have been clever boys," said Thomas Kelder, "all three of them and their father and uncle have not done so badly, though neither of us have climbed into the seats of the mighty, that is, of the government. I hope Jansen will prove as clever as his brothers, John, Duncan, and Donald."

"I will do my best, sir. Will you not call me Jan? Everyone does so."

"Between ourselves you may be Jan. In the bank and in society, you will be always Mr. Jansen Kelder. I will tell you why. Our Christian name is one of our most private and honorable possessions. No one but those of our own household or of whose love we are sure under any and all circumstances, should be permitted to snip and curtail and render it less honorable. In business a nickname, a cut or shortened name, is a name degraded by abbreviation. When William is turned into Bill or John into Jack

or Robert into Bob it is a disastrous change. If I were Tom Kelder instead of Thomas Kelder do you think I should be president of a bank? In the bank you are Mr. Jansen Kelder. The man who calls you 'Jan' in an off-hand unpermitted way, drop him at once. He is a weak, underbred man, trying by an assumed familiarity to rate himself at your value. I am not lecturing you, Jan, I am just trying to prevent your making a mistake."

"Sir, I think it a great honor and a great kindness to receive from you any instruction that will serve me in business.'

Accept yourself. Do not

Accept your lot, whatever

"Well, then, listen. wish to be anybody else. it may be. It is your appointed place in the battle of life. Suppose it will not lead you to the height you want, yet you will get a long way up and form a habit of climbing, that may serve you-in the next world, as well as this:

"A low man seeks a little thing to do,

Sees it, and does it;

A high man seeks a great thing to pursue,

and may die ere he wins it, but it is God's part to make the next life perfect this life. Do you understand me?"

"I think I do, sir."

"Some men, Jan, like to talk over their work, talk about it, perhaps, but there is no talking in the Soho Bank, unless it be in Council, or Committee Rooms. There can not be any talking among clerks at the desks. Robert Burns might poetize as he plowed and shoemakers have thought out social problems as they sat stitching on their bench, but the entries of a clerk admit of no such diversions. Clerks have to keep a dozen faculties on the premises to do the work of one."

He smiled at Jan and Jan returned the smile bravely and pleasantly, and then dinner was over. They went into a beautiful little parlor, and the banker lit a cigar and began to talk of Glasgow and to ask questions about its business and growth and from this subject drifted easily into the romantic side of the grim city.

When the clock struck ten, Thomas Kelder said, "I will bid you good night, Jan. I promised Lady Jermyn to drop in at her reception this evening. I think it is a scientific one and the scientists believe they are the only men who know anything; but"But what, sir?"

"They are the only men who can not tell us anything. What will you do with yourself? Go to bed and sleep?"

"I will, as soon as I have written a letter or two." "The hall man will mail them. He will always answer your bell. His name is Mac."

CHAPTER III

ROBERT KELDER'S DIPLOMACY

Youth! Youth! how buoyant are thy hopes! they turn
Like marigolds toward the sunny side:

All possibilities are in its hands.

No danger daunts it, and no foe withstands,
As with ambitious feet, secure and proud,
It climbs the ladder leaning on the cloud.

T

HE routine of Jan's life was henceforward sharply defined, easily accomplished and not without many interesting asides. Sometimes he rode to the bank with his uncle; sometimes he preferred a leisurely walk through the awakening streets. Once in the bank he knew himself to be thoroughly under the direction of Mr. Mackenzie, the head bookkeeper. There were a great many young men in and out of the room in which he worked; but they paid no attention to him, nor did he feel any desire to break the barrier of silence between them.

There was, however, a young man occupying a stool very near to him, a frank, handsome young