It was a small scrap of paper, folded diagonally.
Palmer opened and read it, his heart beating with feverish excitement. Then he smiled.
"Shall I read it to you, Robert?" he asked.
"Many thanks for your pretty note. To-morrow evening at eleven be under the window at No. 98 Lemore street.
"What do you think of that?" said Livingston Palmer triumphantly. "Do you notice that she signs herself Alameda?"
"That seems nice and friendly, doesn't it?"
"She is evidently taken with me. Oh, Robert, I never was so happy."
Robert, of course, being a boy, could not enter fully into Palmer's feelings. However, he answered in a sympathetic tone which satisfied his fellow clerk.
"I never thought I should be so fortunate," he said. "Oh, Robert, you don't know how I feel towards that girl."
"It isn't to be expected, for you are only a boy."
"I suppose I was the same at your age. How fortunate it was that you invited me to accompany you this evening. I feel under the greatest obligations to you," and Palmer, seizing our hero's hand, shook it with impulsive energy.
"I am sure you are quite welcome, Mr. Palmer."
Robert was beginning to be weary. To his mind, Palmer seemed to be acting in a very silly manner. However, as he reflected, he was only a boy, and could not comprehend the effect of a grand passion on a man like his fellow clerk.
The next day Palmer was like a man in a dream. He was at his desk in the office, but he found it hard to attend to his duties in an intelligent manner. He made some ludicrous blunders, which finally attracted his employer's notice.
"It seems to me, Mr. Palmer," he said quietly, "that you are not quite yourself. Where did the man you just waited on wish to go?"
"Alameda," blurted out Palmer. "No," he corrected himself in some confusion, "Denver, Colorado."
"You seem to have Alameda on the brain. We don't sell tickets to Alameda."
"I believe there is such a place in California, but we never had any tickets for it."
"For the rest of the day try to keep your wits about you."
"Do you think he suspects?" asked Palmer in a whisper to Robert, when Mr. Gray had gone out for a minute.
"Really, I hope not. It makes me feel embarrassed and confused."
"I see it does. Can't you put the matter out of your mind during business hours?"