d before
banking hours to-morrow morning, but for fear of slips, you'd better
wait till noon before giving that bank as your reference. Good-night.
Remember that everything depends on you--including Guilford Duncan's
reputation for integrity."

Temple sat for half an hour thinking and planning. He was determined to
make no mistakes that might imperil success. To that end he was trying
to imagine, in advance, every difficulty and every emergency that might
arise. At last he rose, took his hat, turned the lamp out, and left the
room.

"This is the very toughest bit of engineering," he reflected, "that ever
I undertook. Well, so much the greater the credit if I succeed. But I
don't care for the credit. I care only for Guilford Duncan in this
case."

XXIV

BARBARA'S ANSWER

When Duncan left his room on the evening of Temple's conference with
Will Hallam, he passed down the stairs and into the Hallam offices,
where he still had a little working den of his own, for use when he did
not care to see the people who sought him at his law office.

As he entered he found a little note upon his desk, and he recognized
Barbara's small round hand in the superscription. Opening the envelope
eagerly he read the few lines within:

You may come for your answer whenever it is convenient--any
evening, I mean, for I am at leisure only in the evenings. There is
a great deal for me to tell you, and it is going to be very hard
for me to tell it. But it is my duty, and I must do it, of course.
I'm afraid it won't be a pleasant evening for either of us.

There was no address, but Duncan observed with pleasure, as a hopeful
sign, that the little missive was signed "Barbara."

"She wouldn't have signed it in that informal way, with only her first
name, if she meant to break off the acquaintance," he argued with
himself. And yet the substance of the note was discouraging in the
extreme, so that Guilford Duncan was a very apprehensive and unhappy man
as he hurried to Barbara's home. He still held her note crushed in his
hand as he entered the house, and he read it over twice while waiting
for her to appear. For this time--the first in his acquaintance with
her--Barbara kept him waiting. She had not meant to do that, but found
it necessary because of her own agitation in anticipation of the
grievous task that was hers to do. She must resolutely bring herself
under control, she felt, before meeting this crisi