uld not remain with him, must not speak to him again, it would be
tantamount to telling him that she did not believe his father was
innocent; and she did believe it. Though she knew so little of Mr.
Orme, she felt that she could trust him.

So she sat almost silent, thinking of what Jessie had told her, and
wondering why Stafford Orme should leave the gay party at the Villa to
ride with her. Once only in the course of the meal did her father
speak. He looked up suddenly, with a quick, almost cunning, glance, and
said:

"Can you let me have some money, Ida? I want to order some books.
There's a copy of the Percy 'Reliques' in the catalogue I should like
to buy."

"How much is it, father?" she asked.

"Oh, five pounds will do," he said, vaguely. "There are one or two
other books."

She made a hasty calculation: five pounds was a large sum to her; but
she smiled as she said:

"You are very extravagant, dear. There is already a copy of the
'Reliques' in the library."

He looked confused for a moment, then he said:

"But not with these notes--not with these notes! They're valuable, and
the book is cheap."

"Very well, dear," she responded; and she went to the antique bureau
and, unlocking it, took a five-pound note from a cedar box.

He watched her covertly, with a painful eagerness.

"I suppose you have a large nest egg there, eh, Ida?" he remarked, with
a quavering laugh.

"No: a very little one," she responded. "'Not nearly enough to pay the
quarterly bills. But never mind, dear; there it is. You must show me
the books when they come; I never saw the last you ordered, you know!"

He took the note with an assumption of indifference but with a gleam of
satisfaction in his sunken eyes.

"Didn't you?" he said. "I must have forgotten. You're always so busy;
but I'll show you these, if you'll remind me. You must be careful of
the money, Ida; you must keep down the expenses. We're poor, very poor,
you know; and the cost of living and servants is very great--very
great."

He wandered off to the library, muttering to himself, with his book
under his arm, and the five-pound note gripped tightly in the hand
which he had thrust into the pocket of his dressing-gown; and Ida, as
she put on her habit and went into the stable-yard to have the colt
saddled, sighed as she thought that it would be nice to have just, for
once, enough money to meet all the bills and buy all the books her
father coveted.

But her melanch