u suffer for want of
money?'

He had not skill to read her countenance. Trouble he discerned, and
shame; but the half-veiled eyes, the quivering nostril, the hard, cold
lips, spoke a language beyond Samuel's interpretation. Even had he known
of the outrages previously inflicted upon her pride, and that this new
attack came at a moment when her courage was baffled, her heart cruelly
wounded, he would just as little have comprehended the spirit which now
kept her mute.

He imagined her overcome by his generosity. Another of his great effects
had come off with tolerable success.

'Put your mind at rest,' he pursued mellifluously. 'You shall suffer no
hardships. I answer for it.'

Still mute, and her head bowed low. Such is the power of nobility
displayed before an erring soul!

'You have never done me justice. Confess that you haven't!'

To this remarkable appeal Nancy perforce replied:

'I never thought ill of you.'

When she had spoken, colour came into her cheeks. Observing it, Samuel
was strangely moved. Had he impressed her even more profoundly than he
hoped to do? Jessica Morgan's undisguised subjugation had flattered him
into credulity respecting his influence over the female mind.

'But you didn't think me capable of--of anything extraordinary?' Even in
her torment, Nancy marvelled at this revelation of fatuity. She did not
understand the pranks of such a mind as Barmby's when its balance is
disturbed by exciting circumstance.

'What are you offering me?' she asked, in a low voice. 'How could I take
money from you?'

'I didn't mean that you should. Your secret has been betrayed to me.
Suppose I refuse to know anything about it, and leave things as they
were?'

Nancy kept her eyes down.

'Suppose I say: Duty bids me injure this woman who has injured _me_; but
no, I will not! Suppose I say: I can make her regret bitterly that she
married that other man; but no, I will not! Suppose, instead of making
your secret known, I do my utmost to guard it! What would be your
opinion of this behaviour?'

'I should think it was kindly meant, but useless.'

'Useless? Why?'

'Because it isn't in your power to guard the secret. Jessica Morgan
won't leave her work half done.'

'If that's all, I say again that you can put your mind at rest. I answer
for Miss. Morgan. With her my will is law.'

Samuel smiled. A smile ineffable. The smile of a suburban deity.

'Why should you take any trouble about me?' said Na