who had found leisure that
afternoon to take a drive in his barouche, came up behind her, and very
naturally stopped and offered to take her home. Willy, quite as
naturally, accepted the polite proposition and seated herself in the
barouche by the side of the fur-trimmed overcoat and the high silk hat.

Thus it was that the people of the town who were in the main street that
afternoon, or who happened to be at doors or windows; that the very
birds of the air, hopping about on trees or house-tops; that the horses,
dogs, and cats; that even the insects, whose constitutions were strong
enough to enable them to buzz about in the autumn sunlight, beheld the
startling sight of Willy Croup and the fine gentleman at the hotel
riding together, side by side, in broad daylight, through the most
public street of the town.

Once before these two had been seen together out of doors, but then they
had been walking, and almost any two people who knew each other and who
might be walking in the same direction, could, without impropriety walk
side by side and converse as they went; but now the incident was very
different.

It created a great impression, not all to the advantage of Mr. Burke,
for, after the matter had been very thoroughly discussed, it was
generally conceded that he must be no better than a fortune-hunter.
Otherwise, why should he be paying attention to Willy Croup, who, as
everybody knew, was not a day under forty-five years old, and therefore
at least ten years older than the gentleman at the hotel.

In regard to the fortune which he was hunting, there was no difference
of opinion; whatever Mrs. Cliff's fortune might be, this Mr. Burke
wanted it. Of course, he would not endeavor to gain his object by
marrying the widow, for she was entirely too old for him; but if he
married Willy, her only relative, that would not be quite so bad as to
age, and there could be no doubt that these two would ultimately come
into Mrs. Cliff's fortune, which was probably more than had been
generally supposed. She had always been very close-mouthed about her
affairs, and there were some who said that even in her early days of
widowhood she might have been more stingy than she was poor. She must
have considerable property, or Mr. Burke would not be so anxious to get
it.

Thus it happened that the eventful drive in the barouche had a very
different effect upon the reputations of the three persons concerned.
Mr. Burke was lowered from his