tha about the matter; it would be wiser."

Mrs. Hastings asked no more questions. She fancied she understood the
situation, and she had Agatha's interests at heart, for she had grown
very fond of the girl. There was certainly one slight difficulty in
the way of what she meant to do, but she determined to disregard it,
though she admitted that it might cause Agatha some embarrassment
afterwards. During the afternoon she found the latter alone, and sat
down beside her.

"My dear," she said, "I wonder if I may ask whether you are quite
convinced that Harry's dead?"

She felt that the question was necessary, though it seemed rather a
cruel one, and she saw signs of tension in the girl's expression.

"No," said the latter very quietly; "I can't quite bring myself to
believe it."

"Then, since you heard what Sproatly said, you would be willing to do
anything that appeared possible to prevent Gregory throwing Harry's
dollars away?"

"Yes," said Agatha, "I have been thinking about it." A little sparkle
of disdainful anger crept into her eyes. "Gregory seems to have been
acting shamefully."

"Then as he won't listen to Allen, we must get Sally to impress that
fact on him."

"Sally?" said Agatha in evident astonishment.

Mrs. Hastings smiled. "I don't think you understand Sally as well as I
do. Of course, like the rest of us, she falls a long way short of
perfection, and--though it's a difficult subject--there's no doubt that
her conduct in leading Gregory on while he was still engaged to you was
hardly quite correct. After all, however, you owe her something for
that."

"It isn't very hard to forgive her for it," said Agatha quietly.

"Well, I want you to realise Sally. Right or wrong, she's fond of the
man. Of course, I've told you this already, but I must try to make it
clear how that fact bears upon the business in hand. Sally certainly
fought for him, and there's no doubt that one could find fault with
several things she did; but the point is that she's evidently
determined on making the most of him now she has got him. In some
respects, at least, she's absolutely straight--one hundred cents to the
dollar is what Allen says of her--and although you might perhaps not
have expected this, I believe it would hurt her horribly to feel that
Gregory was squandering money that didn't strictly belong to him."

"Then you mean to make her understand what he is doing?"

"No," said Mrs. Hastings; "I want you