e face. She had made up her
mind exactly what to express--and she failed altogether to do it. There
was a fire and a strength in the clear, grey eyes fixed so earnestly
upon hers which disconcerted her altogether. She was desperately angry
with herself and desperately uneasy.

"You have the power," she said with slight coldness, "to buy most
things. By the by, I was thinking only just now, how sad it was that
your partner did not live. He shared the work with you, didn't he? It
seems such hard lines that he could not have shared the reward!"

He showed no sign of emotion such as she had expected, and for which she
had been narrowly watching him. Only he grew at once more serious, and
he led her a little further still from the crush of people. It was the
luncheon interval, and though the next race was the most important of
the day, the stream of promenaders had thinned off a little.

"It is strange," he said, "that you should have spoken to me of my
partner. I have been thinking about him a good deal lately."

"In what way?"

"Well, first of all, I am not sure that our agreement was altogether
a fair one," he said. "He had a daughter and I am very anxious to find
her! I feel that she is entitled to a certain number of shares in the
Company, and I want her to accept them."

"Have you tried to find her?" she asked.

He looked steadily at her for a moment, but her parasol had dropped a
little upon his side and he could not see her face.

"Yes, I have tried," he said slowly, "and I have suffered a great
disappointment. She knows quite well that I am searching for her, and
she prefers to remain undiscovered."

"That sounds strange," she remarked, with her eyes fixed upon the
distant Surrey hills. "Do you know her reason?"

"I am afraid," he said deliberately, "that there can be only one. It's a
miserable thing to believe of any woman, and I'd be glad--"

He hesitated. She kept her eyes turned away from him, but her manner
denoted impatience.

"Over on this side," he continued, "it seems that Monty was a gentleman
in his day, and his people were--well, of your order! There was an Earl
I believe in the family, and no doubt they are highly respectable. He
went wrong once, and of course they never gave him another chance. It
isn't their way--that sort of people! I'll admit he was pretty low down
when I came across him, but I reckon that was the fault of those who
sent him adrift--and after all there was good in him