g that I do not
quite understand about Willa. You are sure, Mason, that she has no
vulgar, clandestine affair on her hands?"

"Good heavens, I should hope not! We've got enough to contend with as
things stand without that." The attorney bounced forward in his chair.
"What on earth put such an idea into your head, my dear Irene?"

"She was already in the breakfast-room when I came down this morning,
and I thought she looked remarkably fresh, but with these naturally
pale people you never can tell." Mrs. Halstead, too, leaned forward
impressively. "Willa said nothing about having been out, and naturally
such a possibility never occurred to me, but Welsh tells me she drove
up in a taxi-cab at half-past nine. She must have slipped out very
early, for he did not see her go."

"Surely you questioned her?" her husband asked. North was speechless.

"'She had been out to take a look about the city.'" Mrs. Halstead
shrugged. "She hadn't thought it worth while mentioning; she had
always gone and come as she pleased."

"Exactly the same stall she gave me!" the attorney exploded. "We'd
better look into this, for she gave me the slip half a dozen times on
the train and in stations and I never could get any satisfaction out of
her."

"I explained that young ladies did not go about alone in that fashion,
at least unless their families knew and sanctioned it, and I pointed
out the danger of losing her way. She promised to be more careful
another time, but her manner was ambiguous, to say the least. She may
have privately intended to be careful lest her future expeditions be
discovered, but I have arranged to circumvent that. Whatever we do, we
must have no breath of gossip until she is firmly established."

If Willa was aware of the respectful surveillance to which she was
subjected thereafter she made no sign, possibly because she eluded it
whenever she felt inclined with the utmost ease, and no tales were
carried back. The servants beneath Mrs. Halstead's iron rule were too
fearful of losing their positions to admit a failure of duty unless
they were cornered and secretly they sympathized with the strange young
lady. Thus Willa came and went as her pleasure dictated in the
early-morning hours.

Her first real clash came during a discussion of finances with the
attorney and Ripley Halstead. The latter had insisted on showing her
exactly how the fortune left her by her grandfather was being
manipulated for her