oth forehead.

"We have to thank Madame de Veaudrey for sending us back a fine young
woman," said Farnham.

"Yes, she _is_ improved," the widow assented calmly. "I must show you
the letter Madame de Veaudrey wrote me. Alice is first in languages,
first----"

"In peace, and first in the hearts of her countrywomen," interrupted
Miss Alice, not smartly, but with smiling firmness. "Let Mr. Farnham
take the rest of my qualities for granted, please."

"There will be time enough for you two to get acquainted. But this
evening I wanted to talk to you about something more important. The
'Tribune' money article says the Dan and Beersheba Railroad is not
really earning its dividends. What am I to do about that, I should like
to know?"

"Draw your dividends, with a mind conscious of rectitude, though the
directors rage and the 'Tribune' imagine a vain thing," Farnham
answered, and the talk was of stocks and bonds for an hour afterward.

When dinner was over, the three were seated again in the library. The
financial conversation had run its course, and had perished amid the
arid sands of reference to the hard times and the gloomy prospects of
real estate. Miss Alice, who took no part in the discussion, was
reading the evening paper, and Farnham was gratifying his eyes by
gazing at the perfect outline of her face, the rippled hair over the
straight brows, and the stout braids that hung close to the graceful
neck in the fashion affected by school-girls at that time.

A servant entered and handed a card to Alice. She looked at it and
passed it to her mother.

"It is Mr. Furrey," said the widow. "He has called upon _you_."

"I suppose he may come in here?" Alice said, without rising.

Her mother looked at her with a mute inquiry, but answered in an
instant, "Certainly."

When Mr. Furrey entered, he walked past Mrs. Belding to greet her
daughter, with profuse expressions of delight at her return, "of which
he had just heard this afternoon at the bank; and although he was going
to a party this evening, he could not help stopping in to welcome her
home." Miss Alice said "Thank you," and Mr. Furrey turned to shake
hands with her mother.

"You know my friend Mr. Farnham?"

"Yes, ma'am--that is, I see him often at the bank, but I am glad to owe
the pleasure of his acquaintance to you."

The men shook hands. Mr. Furrey bowed a little more deeply than was
absolutely required. He then seated himself near Miss Alice and began
t