niece's face for a moment or two before he replied.

"Stella," he said coldly, "has taken her goods to a poor market. Norris
Vine is on the brink of ruin. If I turn the screw to-morrow, he must
come down."

He sipped his wine for a moment thoughtfully. Then a grim, hard smile
parted his lips.

"No wonder," he said, "that my friends are still in something of a
panic."

Virginia rose in her place. It seemed as though her appearance was
woebegone enough to soften the heart of any man, but Phineas Duge looked
into her face unmoved.

"Uncle," she said, "I am no longer any use to you. I think that I had
better go home."

He took out his pocket-book, looked through its contents, and passed it
across the table to her.

"As you will," he answered. "I have a great weakness which I am always
ready to admit. I cannot bear the presence about me of people who have
failed. You have become one of them, and I do not wish you to remain
here. If," he added, speaking more slowly, and looking meditatively
into the decanter by his side, "if you saw any chance by which, with
the help of what you will find in that pocket-book, a little
application, a little ingenuity, and a good deal of perseverance, you
could undo some part of the mischief which your carelessness has caused,
then, of course, I should lose that feeling concerning you, and your
place here would be open for your return. It would probably, also, be to
the advantage of your people if any such idea as this resulted in
successful action on your part. There is enough in that pocket-book," he
added, "to take you where you will, and to enable you to live as you
will for the remainder of the year, and during that time your people
also are provided for. I leave the matter in your hands."

He turned and left the room. Virginia stood at the end of the table,
clasping the pocket-book in her hands, and watching his retreating
figure. He opened and closed the door. She sank back into her place for
a moment and covered her face with her hands. For a moment she forgot
where she was. The perfume of the roses, with which the table was laden,
had somehow reminded her of the little farmhouse with its humble garden,
far up amongst the hills.

CHAPTER XIV

STELLA PROVES OBSTINATE

Littleson reached the hotel where Stella lived just in time to find the
hall full of her trunks, and Stella herself, in dark travelling clothes
and heavily veiled, in the act of saying farewell to the m