st now,"
she persisted. "I suppose it affects you, too?"

Gregory, who seemed to accept this as a rebuff, looked at her rather
curiously, and then laughed.

"It must be admitted that it does. In fact, I've been acquiring
parsimonious habits and worrying myself about expenses lately. The
expenses have to be kept down somehow, and that's a kind of thing I
never took kindly to."

"You feel it a greater responsibility when you're managing somebody
else's affairs?" suggested Agatha, who was still awaiting her
opportunity.

"Well," replied Hawtrey, in whom there was, after all, a certain honesty,
"that's not quite the only thing that has some weight with me. You see,
I'm not altogether disinterested. I get a certain percentage--on the
margin--after everything is paid, and I want it to be a big one. Things
are rather tight just now, and the wretched mortgage on my place is
crippling me."

It had slipped out before he quite realized what he was saying, and he
saw the girl's look of concern. She now realized what Sproatly had
meant.

"You are in debt, Gregory? I thought you had, at least, kept clear of
that," she said.

"So I did--for a while. In any case, if Wyllard stays away, and I can
run this place on the right lines, I shall, no doubt, get out of it
again."

She was vexed that he should speak so selfishly, for it was clear to her
that, if Wyllard did not return until another crop was gathered in, it
would be because he was held fast among the Northern ice in peril of his
life. Then another thought struck her. She had never quite understood
why Gregory had been willing to undertake the management of the Range.
In view of the probability that Wyllard had plainly told him what to
expect concerning herself, she had been greatly puzzled by his
acquiescence. But he had made that point clear by admitting that he had
been burdened with a load of debt. But why had he incurred debts? The
answer came to her as she remembered having heard Mrs. Hastings or
somebody else say that he had spent a great deal of money upon his house
and the furnishings for it. It brought her a sudden sense of confusion,
for as one result of that expenditure he had been forced into doing what
she fancied must have been a very repugnant thing. And she had never
even crossed his threshold!

"When did you borrow that money?" she asked sharply.

There was no doubt that Gregory was embarrassed, and her heart softened
toward him for his hesitation.