er Mrs. Wentworth drew a long breath and moistened her lips.

"You knew him at the same time that you first knew Norman, did you not?"
She was simply figuring for time.

"Yes, I met him first then," said Keith.

"Don't you think Ferdy has changed since he was a boy?" she demanded
after a moment's reflection.

"How do you mean?" Keith was feeling very uncomfortable, and, to save
himself an answer, plunged along:

"Of course he has changed." He did not say how, nor did he give Mrs.
Wentworth time to explain herself. "I will tell you one thing, though,"
he said earnestly: "he never was worthy to loose the latchet of your
husband's shoe."

Mrs. Wentworth's face changed again; she glanced down for a second, and
then said:

"You and Norman have a mutual admiration society."

"We have been friends a long time," said Keith, thoughtfully.

"But even that does not always count for so much. Friendships seem so
easily broken these days."

"Because there are so few Norman Wentworths. That man is blessed who has
such a friend," said the young man, earnestly.

Mrs. Wentworth looked at him with a curious light in her eyes, and as
she gazed her face grew more thoughtful. Then, as Norman reappeared she
changed the subject abruptly.

After dinner, while they were smoking, Norman made Keith tell him of his
coal-lands and the business that had brought him to New York. To Keith's
surprise, he seemed to know something of it already.

"You should have come to me at first," he said. "I might, at least, have
been able to counteract somewhat the adverse influence that has been
working against you." His brow clouded a little.

"Wickersham appears to be quite a personage here. I wonder he has not
been found out," said Keith after a little reverie.

Norman shifted slightly in his chair. "Oh, he is not worth bothering
about. Give me your lay-out now."

Keith put him in possession of the facts, and he became deeply
interested. He had, indeed, a dual motive: one of friendship for Keith;
the other he as yet hardly confessed even to himself.

The next day Keith met Norman by appointment and gave him his papers.
And a day or two afterwards he met a number of his friends at lunch.

They were capitalists and, if General Keith's old dictum, that gentlemen
never discussed money at table, was sound, they would scarcely have met
his requirement; for the talk was almost entirely of money. When they
rose from the table, Keith, as he afterwar