many thousand pounds; but
he must be more than brave, he will be heroic, who can do so in the
presence not only of the girl but of the girl's mother and married
sister as well. Captain Batsby was no such hero. "Of course," he said
at last.

"Of course what?" asked Augusta.

"It was because I loved her."

"I knew that he loved me," sobbed Gertrude.

"And you are here, because you intend to make her your wife in
presence of all men?" asked Augusta.

"Oh certainly."

"Then I suppose that it will be all right," said Lady Tringle.

"It will be all right," said Augusta. "And now, mamma, I think that
we may leave them alone together." But to this Lady Tringle would
not give her assent. She had not had confided to her the depth of Mr.
Traffick's wisdom, and declared herself opposed to any absolute overt
love-making until Sir Thomas should have given his positive consent.

"It is all the same thing, Benjamin, is it not?" said Augusta,
assuming already the familiarity of a sister in-law.

"Oh quite," said the Captain.

But Gertrude looked as though she did not think it to be exactly
the same. Such deficiency as that, however, she had to endure; and
she received from her sister after the Captain's departure full
congratulations as to her lover's return. "To tell you the truth,"
said Augusta, "I didn't think that you would ever see him again.
After what papa said to him in the City he might have got off and
nobody could have said a word to him. Now he's fixed."

Captain Batsby effected his escape as quickly as he could, and went
home a melancholy man. He, too, was aware that he was fixed; and, as
he thought of this, a dreadful idea fell upon him that the Honourable
Mr. Traffick had perhaps played him false.

In the meantime Mr. Traffick was true to his word and went into the
City. In the early days of his married life his journeys to Lombard
Street were frequent. The management and investing of his wife's
money had been to him a matter of much interest, and he had felt a
gratification in discussing any money matter with the man who handled
millions. In this way he had become intimate with the ways of the
house, though latterly his presence there had not been encouraged.
"I suppose I can go in to Sir Thomas," he said, laying his hand upon
a leaf in the counter, which he had been accustomed to raise for the
purpose of his own entrance. But here he was stopped. His name should
be taken in and Sir Thomas duly apprised.