er shoulder Undine
perceived the ingratiating grin of Elmer Moffatt.

"'A little farther lend thy guiding hand'--but I guess I can go the rest
of the way alone," he said, insinuating himself through the doorway with
an airy gesture of dismissal; then he turned to Mr. Spragg and Undine.

"I agree entirely with Mrs. Marvell--and I'm happy to have the
opportunity of telling her so," he proclaimed, holding his hand out
gallantly.

Undine stood up with a laugh. "It sounded like old times, I suppose--you
thought father and I were quarrelling? But we never quarrel any more: he
always agrees with me." She smiled at Mr. Spragg and turned her shining
eyes on Moffatt. "I wish that treaty had been signed a few years
sooner!" the latter rejoined in his usual tone of humorous familiarity.

Undine had not met him since her marriage, and of late the adverse turn
of his fortunes had carried him quite beyond her thoughts. But
his actual presence was always stimulating, and even through her
self-absorption she was struck by his air of almost defiant prosperity.
He did not look like a man who has been beaten; or rather he looked like
a man who does not know when he is beaten; and his eye had the gleam of
mocking confidence that had carried him unabashed through his lowest
hours at Apex.

"I presume you're here to see me on business?" Mr. Spragg enquired,
rising from his chair with a glance that seemed to ask his daughter's
silence.

"Why, yes. Senator," rejoined Moffatt, who was given, in playful
moments, to the bestowal of titles high-sounding. "At least I'm here to
ask you a little question that may lead to business."

Mr. Spragg crossed the office and held open the door. "Step this way,
please," he said, guiding Moffatt out before him, though the latter hung
back to exclaim: "No family secrets, Mrs. Marvell--anybody can turn the
fierce white light on ME!"

With the closing of the door Undine's thoughts turned back to her own
preoccupations. It had not struck her as incongruous that Moffatt should
have business dealings with her father: she was even a little surprised
that Mr. Spragg should still treat him so coldly. But she had no time to
give to such considerations. Her own difficulties were too importunately
present to her. She moved restlessly about the office, listening to
the rise and fall of the two voices on the other side of the partition
without once wondering what they were discussing.

What should she say to her fa