ght,
and Florence Aylmer has yielded to temptation. I have nothing to fear
from her now. The second story will go to her by the first post in the
morning. I fancy it will be even more fetching than the one which has
already taken the fancy of the editor of the _Argonaut_."

Trevor had now entered the hall, and Bertha went to meet him.

"How do you do?" she said, in her gayest voice. She was dressed in the
most becoming way, and looked wonderfully attractive. Her red-gold hair
was always a striking feature about her; her complexion at night was of
the palest cream and dazzlingly fair; her eyes looked big, and as she
raised them to Trevor's face they wore a pathetic expression. He wrung
her hand heartily, asked for Mrs. Aylmer, said that he would go to his
room to get ready for dinner, and ran upstairs three steps at a time.

"How nice he looks!" thought the girl; "it would be possible for me to
like him even as much as Mrs. Aylmer fears, but I will not show my hand
at present. What does this fresh combination mean? I wonder who the girl
is who is to be brought to Aylmer's Court on purpose to be wooed by
Maurice Trevor."

The dinner-gong sounded, and soon Mrs. Aylmer, Trevor, and Bertha sat
around the board. He chatted gaily, telling both the ladies some amusing
adventures, and causing Mrs. Aylmer to laugh heartily several times.

"You are a very bad boy to stay away from me so long," she said; "but
now you are not to stir: your work is cut out for you. I mean you to
take complete control of the estate. To-morrow you and I will have a
long conversation on the subject."

"But I am not at all a business man," he answered, frowning slightly and
glancing from Bertha to Mrs. Aylmer.

"Never mind; you can learn. You surely ought to know something of what
is to be your own eventually!"

"I thought that your steward and Miss Keys managed everything."

"Miss Keys manages a good deal, perhaps too much," said Mrs. Aylmer,
frowning, and glancing in a somewhat suspicious way at her companion. "I
mean you to manage your own affairs in the future; but you and I will
have a talk after breakfast to-morrow."

"Yes, I shall be glad to have a talk with you," he answered. He looked
at her gravely.

Bertha wondered what was passing in his mind.

CHAPTER XXIV.

TREVOR ASKS BERTHA'S ADVICE.

That same evening, when Mrs. Aylmer had retired to bed and Bertha was
about to go to her own room, she met Trevor on the stairs.