has got into a rut from which he cannot be guided.

"He will simply have to be lifted completely out of it, or he will stay

here and die in the harness. Everything is running splendidly, and now

that I have a good grasp of the business I can handle it. Don't you

suppose you could persuade him to take a trip? I know that he wants to

travel. He has told me so several times, and if he could get away from

here this fall and stay away for a year, if possible, it would make a

new man of him. I am really very much worried about him, and while I

hate to worry you I feel that you are the only person who can influence

him and that something ought to be done and done at once."

"Why, Harold," exclaimed the girl, "there is nothing the matter with

father! He was never better in his life nor more cheerful."

"That's the side of him that he lets you see," replied the man. "His

gaiety is all forced. If you could see him after you leave you would

realize that he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Your father is

not an old man in years, but he has placed a constant surtax on his

nervous system for the last twenty-five years without a let-up, and it

doesn't make any difference how good a machine may be it is going to

wear out some day, and the better the machine the more complete will be

the wreck when the final break occurs."

As he spoke he watched the girl's face, the changing expression of it,

which marked her growing mental perturbation.

"You really believe it is as bad as that, Harold?" she asked.

"It may be worse than I think," he said. "It is surely fully as bad."

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