ou know what these are?"

He touched a little row of black instruments which stood on the top of
his desk. She shook her head doubtfully.

"I am not quite sure," she admitted.

"They are telephones," he said. "This one"--touching the first--"is a
private wire to my offices in Wall Street. This one"--laying a finger
upon the second--"is a private wire to the bank of which I am president.
These two," he continued, "are connected with the two brokers whom I
employ. The other three are ordinary telephones--two for long distance
calls and one for the city. When you came in I touched this knob on the
floor beneath my foot. All the telephones were at once disconnected here
and connected with my secretaries' room. I can sit here at this table
and shake the money-markets of the world. I can send stocks up or down
at my will. I can ruin if I like, or I can enrich. It is the fashion
nowadays to speak lightly of the mere man of money, yet there is no king
on his throne who can shake the world as can we kings of the
money-market by the lifting even of a finger."

"Are you a millionaire?" she asked timidly. "But, of course, you must
be, or you could not live in a house like this."

He laid his hand gently upon hers.

"Yes," he said, "I am a millionaire a good many times over, or I should
not be of much account in New York. But there, I have told you enough
about myself. I sent for you, as you know, because there are times when
I feel a little lonely, and I thought that if my sister could spare one
of her children, it would be a kindly act, and one which I might perhaps
be able to repay. Do you think that you would like to live here with
me, Virginia, and be mistress of this house?"

She shrank a little away. The prospect was not without its terrifying
side.

"Why, I should love it," she declared, "but I simply shouldn't dare to
think of it. You don't understand, I am afraid, the way we live down at
Wellham Springs. We have really no servants, and we do everything
ourselves. I couldn't attempt to manage a house like this."

He smiled at her kindly.

"Perhaps," he said, "you would find it less difficult than you think.
There is a housekeeper already, who sees to all the practical part of
it. She only needs to have some one to whom she can refer now and then.
You would have nothing whatever to do with the managing of the servants,
the commissariat, or anything of that sort. Yours would be purely
social duties."

"I am afra