ves, Mr. Stacey, and we are sad
enough as it is,' and her lips quivered. 'She would be so lonely without
me, and I without her; and surely it is as cheap for two to live
together as one? Besides, I am going to earn money; I was my father's
secretary for three years, and he always said I was a very good one. I
can typewrite quite quickly; I have typewritten all his letters for him
for the last three years and copied all his manuscripts, and I scarcely
ever made a mistake.'

Her listener looked doubtful for a moment; but now that she had some
practical suggestion to make, the interview began to take a more
business-like appearance, and the old man was ready to listen to her.

'Yes,' he said, 'your father often told me that you were better than any
trained secretary he ever had, and I have no doubt your three years'
experience has been useful to you; but unfortunately there is no one
here who happens to want a secretary'----

Before he could get any further, Stella Wharton interrupted eagerly,
'But we do not think of staying here, and I have thought the whole
matter over. I knew I should have to earn my own living, and of course
the proper place to do that is in London.'

Mr. Stacey's look of consternation would have been amusing if he had not
been so serious. 'You and Vava go and live in London alone! The thing is
impossible!'

'Why impossible?' asked Stella quietly. 'Hundreds and thousands of girls
do it who are not even as old as I am.'

'Yes, but not girls like you,' said the lawyer. He stopped from sheer
inability to express what he meant and felt, which was that such an
exceptionally pretty girl as Stella Wharton ought not to start life
alone in London and be thrown on her own resources, even though she was
a thoroughly trustworthy girl and had a younger sister to live with her.
'You do not know anything about London, or even what a town is like; you
have lived in this little Scotch village (for it is not much more), as
far as I know, all your life, and the thing would never do. It's--it's
impossible!' he wound up; 'you could not possibly do it!'

'It is not a case of _could_; it is a case of _must_,' quoted Stella,
with the ghost of a smile, as she repeated the old man's words of a few
minutes ago.

'Yes, yes,' he said; 'you must live, I know that; but even supposing
that it would be possible for you to earn your living, and even to earn
it as a secretary, you would not be able to earn enough at first to ke