y time to ourselves! Things are going well," he added,
with a significant smile, as he glanced at Wirsch and Griffenberg, who,
well-fed and comfortable, were in front of them.

"I'm glad, sir," said Stafford.

Sir Stephen smiled, but checked a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders.

"Yes, my little schemes are flourishing; but"--he looked at the
financiers again--"they are rather a hard team to drive!"

As Stafford entered the drawing-room, he heard Lady Clansford enquiring
for Miss Falconer.

"We want her to sing, Mr. Orme, and I cannot find her."

"I think she is on the terrace," said Bertie, who always seemed to know
where everybody was.

Stafford went out by one of the windows, and saw Maude Falconer pacing
up and down at the end of the terrace. She was superbly dressed, and as
he looked at her, he involuntarily admired the grace of her movements.
Mr. Falconer was walking with bent head and hands behind his back; but
now and again he looked at her sideways with his sharp eyes. Stafford
did not like to interrupt them, and withdrew to the other end of the
terrace, with a cigarette, to wait till they joined him.

"Young Orme has come out to look for you," said Mr. Falconer, without
turning his head.

"I know," she said, though she also had not turned. "They want me to
sing. I will go in directly. You have not answered my question, father.
Is Sir Stephen very rich, or is all this only sham? I have heard you
say so often that display very often only covers poverty."

Falconer eyed her curiously.

"Why do you want to know? What does it matter to you?"

She shrugged her shoulders impatiently, resentfully, and he went on:

"Yes, he's rich; confoundedly so. But he is playing a big game, in
which he is running some risks; and he'll want all his money to help
him win it."

"And are you joining him in the game?" she asked.

He looked at her with surprise. There was a note in her voice which he
had never heard before, a note which conveyed to him the fact that she
was no longer a girl, but a woman.

"Upon my soul, I don't know why you ask! Well, well!"--she had
repeated the impatient gesture. "I haven't made up my mind yet. He
wants me to join him. I could be of service to him; on the other hand,
I could--yes, get in his way; for I know some of the points of the game
he is playing. Yes, I could help him--or spoil him."

"And which are you going to do?" she asked, in a low voice, her eyes
veiled, her lips drawn s