or $5,000 and signed "John Burkett
Ryder."

A deep flush covered the girl's face as she saw the money--a flush
of annoyance rather than of pleasure. This man who had insulted
her, who had wronged her father, who had driven her from his home,
thought he could throw his gold at her and insolently send her her
pay as one settles haughtily with a servant discharged for
impertinence. She would have none of his money--the work she had
done she would make him a present of. She replaced the cheque in
the envelope and passed it back to Theresa.

"Give this to Mr. Ryder and tell him I cannot see him."

"But Mr. Ryder said--" insisted the girl.

"Please deliver my message as I give it," commanded Shirley with
authority. "I cannot see Mr. Ryder."

The maid withdrew, but she had barely closed the door when it was
opened again and Mrs. Ryder rushed in, without knocking. She was
all flustered with excitement and in such a hurry that she had not
even stopped to arrange her toilet.

"My dear Miss Green," she gasped; "what's this I hear--going away
suddenly without giving me warning?"

"I wasn't engaged by the month," replied Shirley drily.

"I know, dear, I know. I was thinking of myself. I've grown so
used to you--how shall I get on without you--no one understands me
the way you do. Dear me! The whole house is upset. Mr. Ryder never
went to bed at all last night. Jefferson is going away,
too--forever, he threatens. If he hadn't come and woke me up to
say good-bye, I should never have known you intended to leave us.
My boy's going--you're going--everyone's deserting me!"

Mrs. Ryder was not accustomed to such prolonged flights of oratory
and she sank exhausted on a chair, her eyes filling with tears.

"Did they tell you who I am--the daughter of Judge Rossmore?"
demanded Shirley.

It had been a shock to Mrs. Ryder that morning when Jefferson
burst into his mother's room before she was up and acquainted her
with the events of the previous evening. The news that the Miss
Green whom she had grown to love, was really the Miss Rossmore of
whose relations with Jefferson her husband stood in such dread,
was far from affecting the financier's wife as it had Ryder
himself. To the mother's simple and ingenuous mind, free from
prejudice and ulterior motive, the girl's character was more
important than her name, and certainly she could not blame her son
for loving such a woman as Shirley. Of course, it was unfortunate
for Jefferson