er, a
gesture rare with him and eloquent equally of sympathy and consternation.
He hadn't in the least meant to tell her all that--nor indeed any of it.
Her hands met his with a warm momentary pressure and then withdrew. He
had, for a fact, pretty well forgotten where they were.

"If you knew," she said, "how kind you've been not to try to--spare me.
No, don't bother. I'm not going to cry. Just give me a minute..."

It was less than that before she asked, in a tone reassuringly steady,
"Does father know, himself?"

"He's been warned, but he's skeptical. Steinmetz says there's nothing
surprising about that. It's his all but universal experience with men of
his own profession. Of course this summer out at Hickory Hill is so much
to the good. And if he can get sufficiently interested to stay there the
year round, why, there's no knowing. The investment in that farm may
prove the wisest one he ever made."

"If it were only possible,"--she was quoting what her father had said to
her the other night at Ravinia,--"for him to be whole-heartedly there!
And he could be--for it's a place one can't help loving and he and Rush
are wonderful companions--he could be whole-heartedly there if it weren't
for Paula."

It was precisely at this point, he indicated to her, that Paula could
come in by relieving him of the necessity of getting back into practise.
Martin would look out for the fixed indebtedness on the farm. He would
probably be willing, in case John made it his home and put his own mature
judgment at the disposal of the two young partners, to finance still
further increases in the investment. But for the ordinary expenses of
living during the next year or two, Paula should cease being a burden and
become a support. "Do you think," he finished by asking, "that she has
any idea what the situation really is?"

Mary replied to this question a little absently. "Father insisted that
she carry out the Ravinia contract. She told me so herself and seemed, I
don't know why, just a little resentful about it. But I'm sure she can't
have any idea that there was a need for money at the back of it. It has
irritated her rather whenever she has caught me economizing up there. And
father will never tell her any more pointedly than he has, you can be
sure. Some one of us will have to do it."

"You're on very good terms with her, aren't you?" Wallace asked. He
added instantly, though with an effort, "I'm willing to tell her if you
wish me