Nicholas nodded. "But I shall see Miss Marie Louise quite soon now."

This puzzled Marie Louise. She pondered it while Nicky bent and kissed
her hand, heaved a guttural, gluttonous "Ah!" and went his way.

It was nearly a week later before she had a clue to the riddle. Then
Sir Joseph came home to luncheon unexpectedly. He had an envelope with
him, sealed with great red buttons of wax. He asked Marie Louise into
his office and said, with an almost stealthy importance:

"My darling, I have a little favor to ask of you. Sometimes, you see,
when I am having a big dealing on the Stock Exchange I do not like
that everybody knows my business. Too many people wish to know all I
do, so they can be doing the same. What everybody knows helps nobody.
It is my wish to get this envelope to a man without somebody finding
out something. Understand?"

"Yes, papa!" Marie Louise answered with the utmost confidence that
what he did was good and wise and straight. She experienced a qualm
when Sir Joseph explained that Nicky was the man. She wondered why he
did not come to the house. Then she rebuked herself for presuming to
question Sir Joseph's motives. He had never been anything but good to
her, and he had been so whole-heartedly good that for her to give
thought-room to a suspicion of him was heinous.

He had business secrets and stratagems of tremendous financial moment.
She had known him to work up great drives on the market and to use all
sorts of people to prepare his attacks. She did not understand big
business methods. She regarded them all with childlike bewilderment.
When, then, Sir Joseph asked her to meet Nicky, as if casually, in
Regent's Park, and convey the envelope from her hand to Nicky's
without any one's witnessing the transfer, she felt the elation of a
child intrusted with an important errand. So she walked all the way to
Regent's Park with the long strides of a young woman out for a
constitutional. She found a bench where she was told to, and sat down
to bask in the spring air, and wait.

By and by Easton sauntered along, lifted his hat to Marie Louise, and
made a great show of surprise. She rose and gave him her hand. She had
taken the precaution to wear gloves--also she had the envelope in her
hand. She left it in Nicky's. He smuggled it into his coat pocket, and
murmuring, "So sorry I can't stop," lifted his hat and hurried off.

Marie Louise sat down again and after a time resumed her constitutional.

Sir