e sequence; all save two, which, being
in a female hand, she gave back without a word. There was a calmness and
an utter absence of concern, much less of jealousy, about this which
disconcerted him. Throughout her reading Stephen's face showed surprise
now and again; but when she came to the last, which was that of the
usurers, it showed alarm. Being a woman, a legal threat had certain
fears of its own.

'There must be no delay about this!' she said.

'What am I to do?' he answered, a weight off his mind that the fiscal
matter had been practically entered on.

'I shall see that you get the money!' she said quietly. 'It will be
really a gift, but I prefer it to be as a loan for many reasons.' Leonard
made no comment. He found so many reasons in his own mind that he
thought it wise to forbear from asking any of hers. Then she took the
practical matter in hand:

'You must wire to these people at once to say that you will pay the
amount on the day after to-morrow. If you will come here to-morrow at
four o'clock the money will be ready for you. You can go up to town by
the evening train and pay off the debt first thing in the morning. When
you bring the receipt I shall speak to you about the other debts; but you
must make out a full list of them. We can't have any half-measure. I
will not go into the matter till I have all the details before me!' Then
she stood up to go.

As they walked across the lawn, she said:

'By the way, don't forget to bring that letter with you. I want to see
what I really did say in it!' Her tone was quiet enough, and the wording
was a request; but Leonard knew as well as if it had been spoken outright
as a threat that if he did not have the letter with him when he came
things were likely to be unpleasant.

The farther he got from Normanstand on his way home the more discontented
Leonard grew. Whilst he had been in Stephen's presence she had so
dominated him, not only by her personality but by her use of her
knowledge of his own circumstances, that he had not dared to make protest
or opposition; but now he began to feel how much less he was to receive
than he had expected. He had come prepared to allow Stephen to fall into
his arms, fortune and all. But now, although he had practical assurance
that the weight of his debts would be taken from him, he was going away
with his tail between his legs. He had not even been accepted as a
suitor, he who had himself been wooed only