writing her father's name that
in her correspondence with her brother, who was an actor in London, she
more frequently than not signed it in place of her own; so that Madgin
junior had to look whether the letter was addressed to him as a son or
as a brother before he could tell by whom it had been written.

As her father's assistant Mirpah was happy after a quiet, staid sort of
fashion. The energies of her nature found their vent in the busy life in
which she took so much delight. She was not at all sentimental: she was
not the least bit romantic. She was thoroughly practical, and was as
keen in money-making as her father himself. Yet with all this, Mirpah
Madgin could be charitable on occasion, and was by no means deficient of
high and generous impulses--only she never allowed her impulses to
interfere with "business."

Mr. Madgin never took any important step without first consulting his
daughter. Herein he acted wisely, for Mirpah's clear, good sense, and
feminine quickness at penetrating motives where he himself was sometimes
at fault, had often proved invaluable to him in difficult transactions.
In a matter of so much moment as that of the Great Hara Diamond it was
not likely that he would be long contented without taking her into his
confidence. He had scarcely finished his first pipe when he heard her
opening the door with her latch-key, and his face brightened at the
sound. She had been on one of those holy pilgrimages in which all who
are thus privileged take so much delight: she had been to the bank to
increase the little store which lay there already in her father's name.
She came into the room tired but smiling. A white straw bonnet, a black
silk mantle, and a muslin dress, small in pattern, formed the chief
items of her quiet attire. She was carefully gloved and booted; but to
whatever she wore Mirpah imparted an air of distinction that put it at
once beyond a suggestion of improvement.

"Smoking at this time of day, papa!" exclaimed Mirpah. "And the whisky
out, too! Are we about to retire on our fortunes, or what does it all
mean?"

"It means, child, that I have got one of the hardest nuts to crack that
were ever put before me. If I crack it, I get five thousand pounds for
the kernel. If I don't crack it--but that's a possibility I can't bear
to think about."

"Five thousand pounds! That would indeed be a kernel worth having. My
teeth are younger than yours, and perhaps I may be able to help you."