ice, and he
happened to mention that his niece's marriage portion would have to
be sacrificed. Well, then, do you know, that letter in my pocket said
something to me....And--well, that's the story. The girl' s portion, I
wormed it out of him, was ten thousand...and I struck that much off
the figure that I allowed him to buy his shares, and save his firm,
for....It was all the letter that did it, mind you!"

He concluded the halting narrative amid a marked silence. The ladies
looked at him and at each other, but they seemed surprised out of their
facility of comment. In this kind of flustered hush, the door was opened
and dinner was announced.

Miss Madden welcomed the diversion by rising with ostentatious vigour.
"I will take myself out," she declared, with cheerful promptness leading
the way. Lady Cressage took the arm Thorpe offered her, and gave no
token of comprehending that her wrist was being caressingly pressed
against his side as they moved along.

At the little table shining in the centre of the dark, cool dining-room,
talk moved idly about among general topics. A thunderstorm broke over
the town, at an early stage of the dinner, and the sound of the rushing
downpour through the open windows, and the breath of freshness which
stirred the jaded air, were pleasanter than any speech. Thoughts roved
intuitively country-ward, where the long-needed rain would be dowering
the landscape with new life--where the earth at sunrise would be green
again, and buoyant in reawakened energy, and redolent with the perfumes
of sweetest summer. They spoke of the fields and the moors with the
longing of tired town-folk in August.

"Oh, when I get away"--said Thorpe, fervently, "it seems to me that I
don't want ever to come back. These last few weeks have got terribly on
my nerve. And really--why should I come back? I've been asking myself
the question--more today than ever before. Of course everything has
been different today. But if I'm to get any genuine good out of my--my
fortune--I must pull away from the City altogether sometime--and why not
now? Of course, some important things are still open--and they have to
be watched night and day--but after all, Semple--that's my Broker--he
could do it for me. At the most, it won't last more than another six
weeks. There is a settlement-day next week, the 15th, and another a
fortnight after, on the 29th, and another on September 12th. Well, those
three days, if they're worked as I in