pite of himself.

"Not Roseleaf!"

Hannibal bowed impressively; and at the moment Mr. Fern's footsteps were
heard in the entry.

Mr. Weil did not know, when he tried to think about it afterwards,
whether the wool merchant noticed particularly that he and Hannibal had
been talking together, or suspected that they might have confidences.
His head was too full of the startling statement he had heard, and when
he was again upon the street he wandered aimlessly for an hour trying to
reconcile this view with the facts as they had presented themselves to
his mind previously.

Millicent in love with Roseleaf! She had said very little to the young
man, so far as he had observed. Her younger sister--sweet little
Daisy--had monopolized his attention. If it were true, what an instance
it was of the odd qualities in the feminine mind, that leave men to
wonder more and more of what material it is constructed. But _was_ it
true? Was Hannibal a better judge, a closer student, than the rest of
them? He did not like Millicent, any better than she liked him. Was he
trying a game of mischief, with some ulterior purpose that was not
apparent on the surface?

Out of it all, Archie Weil emerged, sure of but one thing. He must use
his eyes. If Millicent loved Roseleaf, she could not hide it
successfully from him, now that he had this clue.

The girl's novel was selling fairly well. Weil had made a bargain with
Cutt & Slashem that was very favorable. It gave him an excuse to talk
with the authoress as much as he pleased, and he used his advantage. He
brought her the comments of the press--not that they amounted to
anything, for it was evident that most of the critics had merely skimmed
through the pages. He came to tell her the latest things that Gouger had
said, what proportion of cloth and paper covers were being ordered, and
the other gossip of the printing house. And now he talked about the work
that Shirley was engaged on, and grew enthusiastic, declaring that the
young man would yet make a place for himself beside the Stevensons and
Weymans.

Millicent struck him as caring much more for news of her own production
than that of the young man who had been represented as the object of her
adoration. If she was half as fond of Roseleaf as Hannibal intimated,
she was certainly successful in concealing her sentiments from the
shrewd observer. The result of a fortnight's investigation convinced
Weil that the negro had made a complete mis