As It Was in the Beginning. Philip Verrill Mighels

CHAPTER I

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      A TRUSTED MESSENGER

      Grenville was not the type to be readily excited, yet a glow of exceptional brilliance shone in his eyes as he met the searching gaze of his friend, and wondered if Fenton could be jesting.

      That he had made no reply whatsoever to Fenton's proposition he failed to realize till Gerald spoke again.

      "Well, Sid," demanded that impetuous lieutenant of finance, "gone dumb? Perhaps I haven't made it plain," and he particularized on his fingers. "You get an ocean trip of eight or ten weeks' duration, tropic sun at its best, leisurely business without a fleck of bother, absolute rest, good provender, thorough recuperation, your entire expenses cheerfully paid, vast service rendered to me, no time lost on your equilibrator, time for countless new inventions to sprout in your fertile brain—and the unutterable joy of escaping this abominable climate, practically at once!"

      Grenville's smile, still brightly boyish, despite the many reverses and hardships of his six and twenty