ou. Now, Miss
Grey, I want to speak to you of something that concerns me. You and my
daughter Lucy are great friends?"

Minola almost started.

"I am very fond of Lucy."

"And she is very fond of you. We all are for that matter. Did you ever
hear of an old Scottish saying about a person having a face like a
fiddle--not in shape, you know, but in power of attracting people, and
rousing sympathy?"

"Yes. I think I remember it in some of Scott's novels."

"Very well. I think you have a face like a fiddle; all our sympathies
are drawn to you. Now that is why I speak to you of something which I
wouldn't talk about to any other woman of your age--not even to my own
daughter Theresa, an excellent creature, but not over sympathetic. I
am very fond of my Lucelet. She isn't strong; she hasn't great
intelligence. I know my little goose is not a swan, but she is very
sweet, and sensitive, and loving: the most affectionate little creature
that ever was made happy or unhappy by a man. I am morbidly anxious
about her happiness. Now, you are her friend, and a thousand times
cleverer and stronger than she, and she looks up to you. She would tell
you anything. _Has_ she told you anything lately?"

Minola hesitated.

"Oh, you needn't hesitate, or think of any breach of confidence. You may
tell me. I could get it all from herself in a moment. It isn't about
that I want to ask you. Well, I'll save you all trouble. She has told
you something."

"She has."

"She is in love!"

Minola assented.

Mr. Money ran his hand through his hair, got up and walked a turn or two
up and down the study.

"The other day she was a child, and cared for nobody in the world but
her mother and me! Now a young fellow comes along, and, like the Earl of
Lowgave's lassie in the old song, she does not love her mammy nor she
does not love her daddy."

"Oh, but I don't think that at all," Miss Grey said earnestly. "No girl
could be fonder of her father and mother."

Mr. Money smiled good-humoredly, but with a look of pity, as one who
corrects an odd mistake.

"I know that very well, Miss Grey, and I was not speaking seriously, or
grumbling at my little lassie. But it does astonish us elderly parents,
when we find out all of a sudden that there are other persons more
important than we in the eyes of our little maidens, and we may as well
relieve our minds by putting the feeling into words. Well, you know the
hero of this little romance?"

Minola wa