ad that Duplain's presence kept her from speaking her
fears; and he thanked her inwardly for the smile with which she watched
him go.

That evening, when he returned, the smile was still at its post; but it
dropped away wearily as he said, with his hands on her shoulders: "Don't
worry, mother; I don't know exactly what's happening, but we're not
blacklisted yet."

Mrs. Amherst had immediately taken up her work, letting her nervous
tension find its usual escape through her finger-tips. Her needles
flagged as she lifted her eyes to his.

"Something _is_ happening, then?" she murmured.

"Oh, a number of things, evidently--but though I'm in the heart of them,
I can't yet make out how they are going to affect me."

His mother's glance twinkled in time with the flash of her needles.
"There's always a safe place in the heart of a storm," she said
shrewdly; and Amherst rejoined with a laugh: "Well, if it's Truscomb's
heart, I don't know that it's particularly safe for me."

"Tell me just what he said, John," she begged, making no attempt to
carry the pleasantry farther, though its possibilities still seemed to
flicker about her lip; and Amherst proceeded to recount his talk with
the manager.

Truscomb, it appeared, had made no allusion to Dillon; his avowed
purpose in summoning his assistant had been to discuss with the latter
the question of the proposed nursery and schools. Mrs. Westmore, at
Amherst's suggestion, had presented these projects as her own; but the
question of a site having come up, she had mentioned to Truscomb his
assistant's proposal that the company should buy for the purpose the
notorious Eldorado. The road-house in question had always been one of
the most destructive influences in the mill-colony, and Amherst had made
one or two indirect attempts to have the building converted to other
uses; but the persistent opposition he encountered gave colour to the
popular report that the manager took a high toll from the landlord.

It therefore at once occurred to Amherst to suggest the purchase of the
property to Mrs. Westmore; and he was not surprised to find that
Truscomb's opposition to the scheme centred in the choice of the
building. But even at this point the manager betrayed no open
resistance; he seemed tacitly to admit Amherst's right to discuss the
proposed plans, and even to be consulted concerning the choice of a
site. He was ready with a dozen good reasons against the purchase of the
road-hous