ed to. To possess her in addition to his own
wealth--what more could a man ask? Let Eustis become senator,
governor, president, anything he chose. But let Inglesby have Mary
Virginia by way of fair exchange.

Mr. Inglesby was well aware that Miss Eustis would not for one moment
consider him--unless she had to. He proposed to so arrange affairs
that she had to. Naturally, he looked to his private secretary to help
him bring about this desirable end. And at this opportune moment fate
played into his hands in a manner that left Mr. Hunter's assent a
matter of course.

Mr. Hunter had very expensive tastes which his salary was not always
sufficient to cover. Wherefore, like many another, he speculated. When
he was lucky, it was easy money; but it was never enough. Of late he
had not been fortunate, and he found himself confronted by the high
cost of living as he chose to live. This annoyed him. So when there
came his way what appeared to be an absolute certainty of not only
recouping all his losses but of making some real money as well, Hunter
plunged, with every dollar he could manage to get hold of. But Wall
Street is a lane that has many crooked and devious turnings, and Mr.
Hunter's investments took a very wrong turn. And this time it was not
only all his own money that had been lost. The bottom might have
dropped out of things then, except for Inglesby.

When Hunter had to tell him the truth the financier listened with an
unmoved face. Then he swung around in his chair, lifted an eyebrow,
grunted, and remarked briefly: "Very unsafe thing to do, Hunter.
Very." And shoved his personal check across the desk. Nobody knew
anything about it, except the head bookkeeper of the bank.

Inglesby had no illusions, however. He understood that to have in his
power an immensely clever man who knew as much about his private
affairs as Hunter did, was good business, to say the least. He simply
invested in Mr. Hunter's brains and personality for his own immediate
ends, and he expected his brilliant and expensive secretary to prove
the worth of the investment.

Inglesby had not risen to his present heights by beating about the
bush in his dealings with others. He had seized Success by the
windpipe and throttled it into obedience, and he ruthlessly bent
everything and everybody to his own purposes. The task he set before
Hunter now was to steer the Inglesby ship through a perilous passage
into the matrimonial harbor he had in mind. L