flash of loyalty.
"He gives me all he can possibly spare. But I'm stupid and
unpractical. I just order clothes when I want them, and never think
about the price till the bill comes in, and then it's too late! My
mother did it all before I married. I wish to goodness she had taught
me to manage for myself; but it's no use thinking of that now. The
question is--where can I get money to pay these bills without
troubling my husband about them. I must find some way to do it,
only--I don't the least know how. Aren't there natives out here who
buy people's jewels, or--or lend them money when they want it in a
hurry? I thought--perhaps--you might know whether I could manage to do
it--up here?"

The surprise in Miss Kresney's face deepened to alarm.

"Oh, but indeed, Mrs Desmond, you cannot do anything like that. The
native money-lenders are veree bad people to deal with; and they ask
such big interest, that if you once start with them it is almost
impossible to get free again. You say you are inexperienced about
money, and that would make it far worse. You cannot do anything of
that kind--reallee."

Evelyn rose in an access of helpless impatience.

"But if I can't do that, what _can_ I do?" she cried. "I've got to do
_some_thing--somehow, don't you see? Some of them are beginning to
bother me already, and--it frightens me."

A long silence followed upon her simple, impassioned statement of the
case. Miss Kresney was meditating a startling possibility.

"There is only one thing that I can suggest," she ventured at length,
"and that is I could lend you some money myself. I haven't a great
deal. But if three hundred rupees would help you to settle some of the
bills, I would feel only too proud if you would take it. There will be
no interest to pay; and you could let me have it back in small sums
just whenever you could manage it."

With a gasp of incredulity Evelyn sank back into her chair.

"D'you _mean_ that?"

"Of course I do."

"Oh, Miss Kresney, I don't know why you should be so kind to me! How
can I take such a lot of money--from you?"

"Why not, if I am glad to give it?"

Indeed the sum seemed to her an inconsiderable trifle beside the
certainty of Owen's praise, of Owen's entire satisfaction.

For a clear three minutes Evelyn Desmond sat silent, irresolute; her
mind a formless whirl of eagerness and uncertainty, hope and fear. The
novelty of the transaction rather than any glimmering of the
complications