age, the poverty stricken aspect of the stairs,--items which had
prepared her on other occasions for the starvation rate of pay offered
for her work,--now passed unheeded. This affectation of scanty means
was humorous. Obviously, some millionaire had secured what the
newspapers called "a controlling interest" in "The Firefly."

She sought Mackenzie, the editor, and he received her with a manifest
reluctance to waste his precious time over details that was almost as
convincing as the money and vouchers she carried.

"Yes, Thursday will suit admirably," he said in reply to her
breathless questions. "You will reach Maloja on Friday evening, and
if you post the first article that day week it will arrive in good
time for the next number. As for the style and tone, I leave those
considerations entirely to you. So long as the matter is bright and
readable, that is all I want. I put my requirements clearly in my
letter. Follow that, and you cannot make any mistake."

Helen little realized how precise were the instructions given two
hours earlier to the editor, the bank clerk, and the sleeping car
company. Mackenzie's curt acceptance of her mission brought a
wondering cry to her lips.

"I am naturally overjoyed at my selection for this work," she said.
"May I ask how you came to think of me?"

"Oh, it is hard to say how these things are determined," he answered.
"We liked your crisp way of putting dull facts, I suppose, and thought
that a young lady's impressions of life in an Anglo-Swiss summer
community would be fresher and more attractive than a man's. That is
all. I hope you will enjoy your experiences."

"But, please, I want to thank you----"

"Not a word! Business is business, you know. If a thing is worth
doing, it must be done well. Good-by!"

He flattered himself that he could spend another man's money with as
lordly an air as the youngest journalist on Fleet-st. The difficulty
was to find the man with the money, and Mackenzie had given much
thought during the Sabbath to the potentialities that lay behind
Spencer's whim. He was sure the incident would not close with the
publication of Miss Wynton's articles. Judiciously handled, her
unknown benefactor might prove equally beneficial to "The Firefly."

So Helen tripped out into Fleet-st., and turned her pretty face
westward, and looked so eager and happy that it is not surprising if
many a man eyed her as she passed, and many a woman sighed to think
that anothe