“He’s just come into the office,” said Carson, leading the way.  “He’ll be mightily pleased to see Mr. Kendrick.”

This prophecy proved true.  Hugh Benson, who had not known of his partner’s intention to bring Mr. Kendrick, Senior, to visit the store, flushed with pleasure and a little nervousness when he saw him, and gave evidence of the latter as he cleared a chair for his guest and knocked down a pile of small pasteboard boxes as he did so.

“We don’t usually keep such things in here,” he apologized, and sent post-haste for a boy to take the offending objects away.  Then the party settled down for a talk, Richard carefully closing the door, after notifying a clerk outside to prevent interruption for so long as it should remain closed.

“Now, grandfather, talk business to us, will you?” he begged.  “Tell us what you think of us, and don’t spare us.  That’s what we want, isn’t it?” And he appealed to his two associates with a look which bade them speak out.

“We certainly do, Mr. Kendrick,” Hugh Benson assured the visitor eagerly.  “It’s our chance to have an expert opinion.”

“It will be even more than that,” said Alfred Carson.  “It will be the opinion of the master of all experts in the business world.”

“Fie, Mr. Carson,” said the old man, with, however, a kind look at the young man, who, he knew, did not mean to flatter him but to speak the undeniable truth, “you must remember the old saying about praise to the face.  Still, I must break that rule myself when I tell you all that I am greatly pleased with the appearance of the place, and with all that meets the eye in a brief visit.”

Richard glowed with satisfaction at this, but both Benson and Carson appeared to be waiting for more.  The old man looked at them and nodded.

“You have both had much more experience than this boy of mine,” said he, “and you know that all has not been said when due acknowledgment has been made of the appearance of a place of business.  What I want to know, gentlemen, is—­does the appearance tell the absolute truth about the integrity of the business?”

Richard looked at him quickly, for with the last words his grandfather’s tone had changed from mere suavity to a sudden suggestion of sternness.  Instinctively he straightened in his chair, and his glance at the other two young men showed that they had quite as involuntarily straightened in theirs.  As the head of the firm, Hugh Benson, after a moment’s pause, answered, in a quietly firm tone which made Richard regard him with fresh respect: 

“If it didn’t, Mr. Kendrick, I shouldn’t want to be my father’s successor.  He may have been a failure in business, but it was not for want of absolute integrity.”

The keen eyes softened as they rested on the young man’s face, and Mr. Kendrick bent his head, as if he would do honour to the memory of a father who, however unsuccessful as the world judges success, could make a son speak as this son had spoken.  “I am sure that is true, Mr. Benson,” he said, and paused for a moment before he went on: