about money's being tainted?"

"Don't fret yourself," he counseled her, in his kind voice; but she
would sit wrinkling her brows and putting the question again to herself,
if not to him.

"The trouble is, Billy," she had said, this morning, "I get so puzzled.
It's like trying to learn a new language when you're old. My eyes are
too blurred to see the accents. My ears are dulled. There's that girl
that comes looking like an angel and says she's a sinner. I thought she
might be a comfort; but no, if you please. She just looks Electra in the
face and says, 'I'm as good as the best, only I prefer to do things in
my own way.' I wish Electra hadn't made me so frightfully
self-conscious."

But smile at it all she might, something had wrought upon her. She
looked older and more frail, a pathetic figure now, leaning forward in a
ruminating dream, and reminding Billy Stark, in a hundred unconsidered
ways, of the shortness of the time before she should be gone. His heart
ached. He had truly loved her in his youth, and afterwards, in other
fashions, for many years.

As she sat there in her daze of past and present, she was aware that a
tall white figure stood before her in the sun. She recalled herself with
a start from those never-to-be-explored bounds, and came awake,
humorously frightened at the thought that here, judging from the height
and whiteness, was an angel come to make remarks upon tainted money. But
it was only Electra.

"The next thing to it," said Madam Fulton, with her broad-awake smile.

"What did you say, grandmother?" asked Electra.

"Nothing, my dear. What were you going to say? Sit down. You dazzle me
in that sun."

Electra sat down and considered how she should speak, having triumphant
news to tell. Then, in the midst of her reflection, the news got the
better of her. She began with an eloquent throb in her voice.

"Grandmother, I am going abroad."

"So Peter has spoken, has he? When is it to be?"

"I am not going with Peter. That is all over."

"Well, you're a silly girl. You never'll get such a nice boy again.
Peter could make a woman laugh from morning till night, if she'd have
the sense to please him."

"I am going for a year. At least, I say a year. I put no limit to it in
my own mind. Do you want to go with me, grandmother?"

"No, I'm sure I don't. If I go with anybody, it will be Billy Stark."

"Then I must go alone," A high determination ruled her voice.

"Alone! Mercy, Electra! you