red her for, actually, years. A coffee-coloured India shawl, with
a deep fringe and trace of a lining checkered in cherry and black
slipping from her shoulders, toned her appearance to a potential
dignity.

"Eunice," she exclaimed, as the child entered, "do come here at my
side!" A small, cold mouth was silently raised for a straining embrace.
Stephen Jannan proceeded at once, addressing Essie Scofield. "Mr. Penny
informs me that he has written you explaining our purpose. I have
already instructed you of the law in such a connexion, and there remains
only your signatures to these papers. I begged you, if you will
remember, to come with counsel, but since you have not done that it will
be best for you to read this deed, which is quite clear in its intent."

Essie gazed dramatically at the paper the lawyer tended her. "It means,"
she said, "that I am to lose Eunice, and because I cannot offer her any
advantages beyond those of a slim purse. I am a most unfortunate
creature." Jasper Penny scraped his chair back impatiently, but Stephen
enforced his silence with a gesture. "While my client understands that
no monetary consideration can compensate for the breaking of ties of
affection," Stephen Jannan went on smoothly, "and while he offers none
in payment to that end, still we feel that some material recognition
should be due you. Have you anything to say, suggest, at this point?"

Essie Scofield's arm was about Eunice's waist. "I am to be parted from
my little daughter," she exclaimed; "and my tears are to be stopped with
gold--an affectionate breast, a heart-wrung appeal, stilled by a bribe.
That is the price paid by a trusting, an unsuspicious, female. Long ago,
when a mere girl, dazzled by--"

"We won't go into that," Jannan interrupted, "but confine ourselves to
the immediate development. By signing the paper in question, and
accepting a sum of money, you surrender all claim to this child, known
as Eunice Scofield."

"How will that affect my--my position in other ways?" she demanded, in a
suddenly shrewd, suspicious tone. "Not at all," the lawyer assured her.
She sobbed once, emotionally; and Eunice regarded her with a wide,
unsparing curiosity. "A stranger to me," she gasped, with a paper white
face and fluttering eyelids. Jasper Penny ejaculated sharply, "How much,
Essie?" In a moment, he judged, familiar with a potential hysteria, she
might faint, scream; there were clerks, people, in the next rooms. On
the brin