rywhere, and what's looking
exceedingly bad for those involved, may be good for me. And yet, one can
hardly claim to win goodness out of the threatened misfortunes to those
who are dear to one."

"What's the matter? Something's happened, or you wouldn't come to see me
so early."

"Something has happened," he answered, "and one turns to you in times of
stress, just as one used to turn to your dear brother, Henry. You have
character, shrewdness and decision."

Miss Ironsyde saw light.

"You've come for Raymond," she said.

"Now how did you divine that? But, as a matter of fact, I've come for
somebody else. A very serious thing has happened and if we older
heads--"

"Who told you about it?"

"This morning, an hour ago, it was broken to me by Sabina's mother."

"Tell me just what she told you, Ernest."

He obeyed and described the interview exactly.

"I cannot understand that, for Sabina saw me last night and explained
the situation. I impressed upon her the importance of keeping the matter
as secret as possible for the present."

"Nevertheless Mary Dinnett told me. She is a very impulsive person--so
is Sabina; but in Sabina's case there is brain power to control impulse;
in her mother's case there is none."

"I'm much annoyed," declared Miss Ironsyde--"not of course, that you
should know, but that there should be talking. Please go home and tell
them both to be quiet. This chattering is most dangerous and may defeat
everything. Last night I wrote to Raymond directing him to come and see
me immediately. I did not tell him why; but I told him it was urgent. I
made the strongest appeal possible. When you arrived, I thought it was
he. He should have been here an hour ago."

"If he is coming, I will go," answered Ernest. "I don't wish to meet him
at present. He has done very wrongly--wickedly, in fact. The question is
whether marriage with Sabina--"

"There is no question about that in my opinion," declared the lady. "I
am a student of character, and had she been a different sort of girl--.
But even as it is I suspend judgment until I have seen Raymond. It is
quite impossible, however, after hearing her, to see what excuse he can
offer."

"She is a very superior girl indeed, and very clever and refined. I
always hoped she would marry a schoolmaster, or somebody with cultured
tastes. But her great and unusual beauty doubtless attracted Raymond."

"I think you'd better go home, Ernest. I'll write to you after