s looking steadily at the fire, and away from Mr. Money. She
did not answer at once, and there was a pause. The suddenness of the
silence aroused her.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Money. I know who he is," she said, without looking round.

"Very well. Now comes the delicate part of my questioning. Of course you
can't be expected to read the secrets of other people's hearts, and I
suppose you are not in _his_ confidence."

"No, indeed," she said very quietly.

"No--you couldn't tell how he feels toward my Lucelet?"

Minola shook her head.

"If I were a man, I am sure I should be in love with her," she said.

"You think so? Yes, perhaps so; but in this case, somehow----. Well,
Miss Grey, another question, and then I'll release you, and speak to me
frankly, like a true girl to a plain man, who treats her as such. Is
there any woman, as far as you know, who is more to him than Lucelet?"

Mr. Money had now come near to where Minola was sitting. He stood
leaning against the chimney-piece, and looking fixedly into her face. At
first she did not even understand the meaning of his question. Then
suddenly she felt that her cheeks began to burn and her heart to beat.
She looked up in wonder and pain, but she saw so much of earnestness and
anxiety in Mr. Money's face that it would have been impossible not to
understand and respect his purpose. In his anxiety for his daughter's
happiness his whole soul was absorbed. Minola's heart forgot its own
pain for the moment. Her own memory of a father was not of one thus
unselfishly absorbed. She answered without hesitation, and with quiet
self-possession.

"Oh, no, Mr. Money. I know of no such woman. So far as I can guess, none
such exists."

Mr. Money drew a deep breath, and his eyes brightened.

"Miss Grey," he said, "I think any other woman in the world would have
told me she wasn't in Mr.--in _his_ secrets, or given me some evasive
or petulant answer. I thank you a thousand times. We may then--I
may--pursue without compunction my matchmaking schemes. They are not
very selfish; they are only for Lucelet's happiness. I would ask one of
my office clerks to marry her if she loved him and he was likely to
make her happy; and I would set them up in life. You may guess, then,
whether this idea pleases me. But I confess I didn't think--well, of
course, your assurance is enough, but I began to think of something
different."

Minola rose to go away.

"One word, Miss Grey. Pray don't say anythin