ne for
us."

"Please don't talk of it now," said Effie. "I mean--I know how kindly
you feel, and indeed I am not ungrateful, but I cannot bear to talk it
over, and I want very badly, please, to say something to the Squire."

"Come with me to my study, Miss Staunton," said the Squire.

He opened the door, and Effie followed him.

"Be sure you make her stay, Walter, when your business is over," called
Mrs. Harvey after him. "I'll send for Freda to my boudoir. Miss Staunton
must stay to lunch. It is delightful to see her again, and it is so
sweet of her to come to see us."

The thin, high voice kept calling these words out a little louder and a
little louder as Effie followed the Squire down one long corridor after
another, until at last they entered his special study.

He shut the door at once, and offered her a chair.

"If I can do anything for you, you have but to command me," he said.

"I see you are in great trouble," he continued. "Pray take your own
time. I have nothing whatever to do--I can listen to you as long as ever
you like."

Poor Effie found great difficulty in using her voice. For one dreadful
moment words seemed to fail her altogether. Then she gave a swift
thought to her mother, to George, and her resolve was taken.

"I want to make a very queer request of you, Mr. Harvey," she said. "It
may not be possible for you to grant it. For my father's sake, will you
promise that you will never tell anyone what I am now asking you, if you
don't find it convenient to grant it to me?"

"I'll keep your secret, of course," said the Squire. "But permit me to
say one thing before you begin to tell it to me: there's not the
slightest fear of my not granting it. There is nothing that you can
possibly ask of me, that, under the circumstances, I should think it
right to refuse. Now, pray proceed."

"I want you," said Effie--she gulped down a great lump in her throat,
and proceeded in a sort of desperation--"I want you to lend me 250
pounds. I'll pay you interest--I think five per cent. is fair
interest--I'll pay you interest on the money, and return it to you by
installments."

There was not the least doubt that Effie's request startled the Squire.
The amount of the money required was nothing to him, for he was a very
rich man; but the girl's manner, her evident distress, the look of
shame and misery on her face, surprised him. He guessed that she was
borrowing the money for another, but for whom?

"I can