“Poor fellow!  He needs all our sympathy,” cried Faith.  “He is lying at the undertaker’s now in a terrible condition!”

“Is that so!” exclaimed Mr. Denton.  “Why, I met him not more than an hour ago; he was just coming from Mr. Forbes, the superintendent.  His face was positively ghastly when I saw him.  No doubt old Forbes had been giving him the devil!”

“Surely not at this time!” cried Faith in dismay.  “He could not be so cruel—­so utterly heartless!”

“Forbes has no heart; he is a machine!” said young Denton.  “He is simply a human octopus for pulling in money.  Not that I object to money,” he added, with a laugh, “but I hate to see men make it through such inhuman methods!”

Faith was utterly astonished at the young man’s words.  She had been led to believe that he was a thoroughly unscrupulous person, but here he was expressing her own sentiments exactly.

In an instant the young man noticed her look of surprise.

“You are puzzled,” he said quickly.  “You thought I was nothing but a brainless young scamp!  No doubt you have heard my character from the girls in your department!”

“Oh, no!” said Faith quickly.  “I have not heard that, indeed!  But you will pardon me, Mr. Denton, I did think you were unprincipled, else why should you come in the store and try to make fools of all the young women?”

“Not all of them, only the prettiest!” laughed young Denton, gayly.  “Surely a man can flirt a little without doing any harm, and the girls all like it—­why shouldn’t they, Miss Marvin?”

“But do you ever think what this flirting means?” persisted Faith, who had lost all her timidity and was plunging into the subject in earnest.

“It means a good time and a lot of money spent,” said the young fellow, still laughing.  “But why not spend it on the girls?  Don’t they help the governor to make it?”

“Oh, Mr. Denton!” cried Faith, who was now thoroughly shocked.  “Is it possible that you are speaking now of your own father?”

“I certainly was,” was the unabashed answer.  “I did not mean to be disrespectful; that is only a habit.”

“A very bad habit,” said Faith, reprovingly, “but to return to the subject of poor Mary’s funeral.  Do you think if we asked for a day we would get it?  You know, the store is closed to-day; they might not like to lose another.”

“Of course, they wouldn’t like it, but that don’t make any difference,” said young Denton, grandly.  “What was Jack Forbes’s funeral to you clerks, anyway?  The closing to-day was only a bluff—­one of the bluffs that all stores put up to keep the good opinion of the public.  Now, this affair is entirely different.  This girl was one of you, and you ought to be allowed to attend her funeral!”

“Have you spoken to your father?” asked Faith, after a minute.

“Not yet, but I’m going to.  Now this is my plan:  You get up a petition and get the clerks to sign it and then you go yourself to old Forbes to-morrow.  He’ll be worse than a brute if he dares to refuse you!  Meanwhile I’ll see my father at home to-night.  He’s a little soft on me yet, even if he is a hard-headed old sinner!”