nt the girl
went on wistfully:

"Of course, if we could have grown fond of each other it would have
made things easier, but I'm so different from you-all that I guess you
couldn't really like me. It looks to me as if we were all sort of in
partnership to carry out the terms of Grandfather's will, and whether
we like each other or not we've got to stick or get out of the game.
Whether we're civil to each other or not, too, depends on our own
decency, I expect, but we've got to play square."

She paused, and the lawyer remarked:

"We are all ready to, my dear Willa. We are only trying to safeguard
your interests, and yourself. You are very young and unsophisticated
and you know nothing of the city. We feel that you should be frank
with us and tell us where it is that you go by yourself and what errand
takes you. What are we to think if you do not explain?"

"I don't know," Willa replied simply. "Partners trust each other,
don't they?"

Ripley Halstead smiled.

"Not always, Willa. But in this case we do not distrust your good
intent, only your impulsiveness and inexperience. We really need not
have made a family matter of this; do you wish to speak to your Cousin
Irene alone, or to Mr. North and me?"

Willa opened wide eyes.

"Why should I? I have nothing to tell anyone. I suppose I seem
awfully young and foolish to you, but I'm not afraid New York has much
danger for me; I've taken care of myself in all sorts of situations,
among the roughest hombres that ever crossed the border. You must
trust me now. I am not doing anything wrong, I give you my word;
anything that would create scandal in the way Cousin Irene fears. It's
just an affair of my own, that started before I ever knew I was Willa
Murdaugh; it's a kind of a trust laid on me, and I must fulfill it
alone."

There was a ring in her tones that was almost solemn, and as the lawyer
looked into her clear, young face his former vague hypothesis that his
ward was being blackmailed faded forever from his mind. Whatever the
situation confronting her might be, she was the prime mover and the
initiative was hers. What strange motive could lurk behind her calm
surety and singleness of purpose?

"I can tell you where she goes, if you want to know!"

Angie said suddenly and turned with a mendacious inspiration on her
brother. "So could Vernie. He saw her! It's to a little frame
cottage away up on the Parkway."

"_I_ saw her!" ejaculated Vernon