he visit meant a demand for a few hundred dollars
for some girlish fancy. "Well, how shall I swear? Cross my heart and all
that sort of thing?"

"Mr. Swift, I am serious, awfully serious," stamping her foot with
annoyance, "and please do not treat me as a child."

He saw that the matter was of some importance, and scenting perhaps
complications, withdrew into a defensive attitude.

"Suppose you tell me a little of what you want of me," he said
carefully, "before I give such a promise."

Patsie, who for her reasons did not wish her father to have the
slightest suspicion of this visit, hesitated, looked from Mr. Swift to
Bojo, and turned away nervously, seeking some new method to gain her
end.

"Miss Drake is coming to you as a client," said Bojo, deciding to speak,
"to consult you about her interests. So long as it is about her business
affairs, it seems quite natural, doesn't it, that you should keep her
confidence?"

"Eh, what?" said Mr. Swift, frowning. He seemed to repeat the question
to himself, and answered grudgingly: "Of course, of course, that's all
right, that's true. If it is only to consult me about your business
affairs--"

[Illustration: "'Your promise. No one is to know what I do'"]

"It is absolutely that," said Patsie hastily. She stood beside him,
holding out her hand obstinately. "Your promise. No one is to know what
I do."

Mr. Swift made a mental reservation and nodded his head. The three sat
down.

"How much have I deposited in stocks and bonds to my account?" asked
Patsie.

"Do you wish a list?" said Mr. Swift, preparing to touch a button.

"No, no, not now; only the value--in a general way."

"Of course," said Mr. Swift, caging his fingers and looking over their
heads to the depths of the ceiling, "of course, it depends somewhat on
the state of the market. While what you have is the best of securities,
still, as you must know, even the best will not bring to-day what it
would a year ago."

"Yes, but in a general way," she insisted.

"In a general way," he said carefully, "I should say what you have would
represent a capital of $500,000 to $510,000. Possibly, under favorable
conditions, a little more."

Patsie and Bojo looked at him in astonishment.

"You said $500,000?" she said incredulously.

He nodded.

"You are thinking of Doris," she said, bewildered.

"Not at all. That is approximately the value of your holding. Your
father deposited with me securities to the valu