ere: a pearl necklace; bracelets which had been
the wonder of her set, and which her pretended friend and admirer had
once said were worth as much as her home. She put them all into a bag,
together with several large envelopes containing papers.

Then she went to a dress-closet, and began to search through it,
choosing, finally, a simple, dark street dress, by no means one of the
newest. A gorgeous robe, which had been laid out for her to wear, she
picked up and flung on the floor with sudden loathing. It was the gown
she had intended to wear that night.

A tap at the door, and the maid's mild voice announced the carriage; and
a few minutes later Mrs. Wentworth descended the stairs.

"Tell Mademoiselle Clarisse that Mr. Wentworth will be here this evening
to see the children."

"Yes, madam." The maid's quiet voice was too well trained to express the
slightest surprise, but as soon as the outer door had closed on her
mistress, and she had heard the carriage drive away, she rushed down to
the lower storey to convey the astounding intelligence, and to gossip
over it for half an hour before she deemed it necessary to give the
message to the governess who had succeeded Lois when the latter
went home.

It was just eight o'clock that evening when the carriage drove up to the
door of Norman Wentworth's bank, and a lady enveloped in a long wrap,
her dark veil pulled down over her face, sprang out and ran up the
steps. The crowd had long ago dispersed, though now and then a few timid
depositors still made their way into the bank, to be on the safe side.

The intervention of the banks and the loans they had made that afternoon
had stayed the run and saved the bank from closing; but Norman Wentworth
knew that if he was not ruined, his bank had received a shock from which
it would not recover in a long time, and his fortune was crippled, he
feared, almost beyond repair. The tired clerks looked up as the lady
entered the bank, and, with glances at the clock, muttered a few words
to each other about her right to draw money after the closing-hour had
passed. When, however, she walked past their windows and went straight
to Mr. Wentworth's door, their interest increased.

Norman, with his books before him, was sitting back in his chair, his
head leaning back and resting in his clasped hands, deep in thought upon
the gloom of the present and the perplexities of the future, when there
was a tap at the door.

With some impatience