if taken by surprise. Polly couldn't distinguish a word, so she kept her seat, wondering anxiously what was going on between the two men. A sudden pause seemed to follow Tom's ejaculation, then Mr. Shaw talked a long time in a low, earnest tone, so different from the angry one Polly had expected to hear, that it made her nervous, for Mr. Shaw usually "blew Tom up first, and forgave him afterward," as Maud said. Presently Tom's voice was heard, apparently asking eager questions, to which brief replies were given. Then a dead silence fell upon the room, and nothing was heard but the spring rain softly falling out of doors. All of a sudden she heard a movement, and Tom's voice say audibly,—
"Let me bring Polly," and he appeared, looking so pale and miserable that Polly was frightened.
"Go and say something to him; I can't; poor old father, if I'd only known," and to Polly's utter dismay, Tom threw himself into a chair, and laid his head down on the table, as if he had got a blow that was too much for him.
"Oh, Tom, what is it?" cried Polly, hurrying to him, full of fears she dared not speak.
Without looking up, Tom answered, in a smothered voice,
"Failed; all gone to smash; and to-morrow every one will know it."
Polly held on to the back of Tom's chair for a minute, for the news took her breath away, and she felt as if the world was coming to an end, "failed" was such a vaguely dreadful word to her.
"Is it very bad?" she asked, softly, feeling as if
