l you do
I should have as good a time as I could if I were you. How do you like
New York?"

"How could I help liking it?" Virginia answered. "I came here from a
little wooden farmhouse in a desolate part of the country. I did not
know what luxury was. Here I have a maid, a suite of rooms, an
automobile, and all manner of wonderful things, all of my own."

"Will you be willing," Stella asked calmly, "to pay the price when the
time comes?"

Virginia looked at her wonderingly.

"The price?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

Stella laughed a little hardly.

"Little girl," she said, "you are very young. Let me tell you this. My
father never did a kind action in his life for its own sake. He never
befriended any one for any other motive than that some day or other he
meant to exact some return for it. Your time hasn't come yet, but there
will be something some day which will help you to understand."

Virginia sat upright in her seat. A very becoming touch of colour had
stolen into her cheeks, and her eyes were bright.

"I like to talk to you, Stella," she said, "because you are my cousin,
and none of these other people are even my friends yet, but I cannot
listen to you if you talk like this of the man who has been so kind to
me, especially," she added, "as he is your father and my uncle."

Stella leaned over and patted her hand patronizingly.

"Silly little girl!" she said. "Never mind, we shall be friends some
day, I dare say. You daren't come and see me, I suppose?"

Virginia shook her head.

"Not without my uncle's permission," she said.

"Quite right," Stella agreed. "Don't run any risks. We shall come across
one another now and then, especially since my father seems determined to
throw open his doors once more to the usual mob. By the by, does he ever
say anything about me?"

"Nothing," Virginia answered, "except that you deceived him. He has told
me that."

"Any particulars?" Stella asked.

"I am not sure," Virginia said, "that I ought to repeat them."

Stella sat quite still for a moment, and a slight frown was on her
forehead.

"He has told you, then, why he sent me away?" she asked.

"Yes!" Virginia answered.

Stella shrugged her shoulders and rose.

"Well," she said, "I mustn't monopolize you any longer, or I shall be in
disgrace."

She walked away with a little nod, leaving behind her a faint but
uncomfortable impression. Virginia, an hour or so later, thought it best
to tell her uncle