ther when he came back--what argument was
most likely to prevail with him? If he really had no money to give her
she was imprisoned fast--Van Degen was lost to her, and the old life
must go on interminably...In her nervous pacings she paused before the
blotched looking-glass that hung in a corner of the office under a
steel engraving of Daniel Webster. Even that defective surface could not
disfigure her, and she drew fresh hope from the sight of her beauty.
Her few weeks of ill-health had given her cheeks a subtler curve and
deepened the shadows beneath her eyes, and she was handsomer than before
her marriage. No, Van Degen was not lost to her even! From narrowed lids
to parted lips her face was swept by a smile like retracted sunlight. He
was not lost to her while she could smile like that! Besides, even if
her father had no money, there were always mysterious ways of "raising"
it--in the old Apex days he had often boasted of such feats. As the
hope rose her eyes widened trustfully, and this time the smile that
flowed up to them was as limpid as a child's. That was the was her
father liked her to look at him...

The door opened, and she heard Mr. Spragg say behind her: "No, sir, I
won't--that's final."

He came in alone, with a brooding face, and lowered himself heavily into
his chair. It was plain that the talk between the two men had had an
abrupt ending. Undine looked at her father with a passing flicker of
curiosity. Certainly it was an odd coincidence that Moffatt should have
called while she was there...

"What did he want?" she asked, glancing back toward the door.

Mr. Spragg mumbled his invisible toothpick. "Oh, just another of his
wild-cat schemes--some real-estate deal he's in."

"Why did he come to YOU about it?"

He looked away from her, fumbling among the letters on the desk. "Guess
he'd tried everybody else first. He'd go and ring the devil's front-door
bell if he thought he could get anything out of him."

"I suppose he did himself a lot of harm by testifying in the Ararat
investigation?"

"Yes, SIR--he's down and out this time."

He uttered the words with a certain satisfaction. His daughter did not
answer, and they sat silent, facing each other across the littered desk.
Under their brief about Elmer Moffatt currents of rapid intelligence
seemed to be flowing between them. Suddenly Undine leaned over the desk,
her eyes widening trustfully, and the limpid smile flowing up to them.

"Father,