it?" he
mused aloud. Mary Virginia's lips curled.

"I do not follow you," she said coldly. "I am not even sure you have
the letters--that is why I am here. I must see them with my own eyes
before I agree to pay for them. That is what you expect me to do, is
it not?"

"Oh, I have them all right--that is very easily proven," said he,
unruffled. "Now listen carefully, please, while I explain the real
reason for your presence here this afternoon. Mr. Inglesby, for
reasons of his own, desires to don the senatorial toga; why not? Also,
even more vehemently, Mr. Inglesby desires to lead to the altar Miss
Mary Virginia Eustis: yourself, dear lady, your charming self: again,
why not? Who can blame him for so natural and laudable an ambition?

"As to his ever persuading you to become Mrs. Inglesby, without
some--ah--moral suasion, why, you know what his chance would be better
than I do. As to his persuading the state to send him to Washington,
it would have been a certainty, a sure thing, if our zealous young
friend Mayne hadn't egged your father into the game. How Mayne managed
that, heaven knows, particularly with your father's affairs in the
condition they are. Now, Eustis is a fine man. Far too fine to be lost
in the shuffle at Washington, where he'd be a condemned
nuisance--just as he sometimes is here at home. Do you begin to
comprehend?"

"Why, no," said she, blankly. "And I certainly fail to see where my
silly letters--"

"Let me make it plainer. You and your silly letters put the game into
Mr. Inglesby's hands, swing the balance in his favor. _You_ pay _me_?
Heavens, no! _We_ pay _you_--and a thumping price at that!"

For a long moment they looked at each other.

"My dear Miss Eustis," he put the tips of his fine fingers together,
bent forward over them, and favored her with a white-toothed smile,
"behold in me Mr. Inglesby's ambassador--the advocate of Cupid. Plainly,
I am authorized to offer you Mr. Inglesby's heart, his hand, and--his
check-book. Let us suppose you agree to accept--no, don't interrupt me
yet, please. And keep your seat, Miss Eustis. You may smile, but I would
advise you to consider very seriously what I am about to say to you, and
to realize once for all that Mr. Inglesby is in dead earnest and
prepared to go to considerable lengths. Well, then, as I was about to
say: suppose you agree to accept his proposal! Being above all things a
business man, Mr. Inglesby realizes that gilt-edged collat