here followed an interval of silence,
and his puzzlement showed in the knitting of his brows. "You have the
letters, haven't you?" he demanded, abruptly.

Aggie coyly took a thick bundle from its resting place on her rounded
bosom.

"They never leave me," she murmured, with dulcet passion. There was
in her voice a suggestion of desolation--a desolation that was the
blighting effect of letting the cherished missives go from her.

"Well, they can leave you now, all right," the lawyer remarked
unsympathetically, but with returning cheerfulness, since he saw the end
of his quest in visible form before him. He reached quickly forward for
the packet, which Aggie extended willingly enough. But it was Mary who,
with a swift movement, caught and held it.

"Not quite yet, Mr. Irwin, I'm afraid," she said, calmly.

The lawyer barely suppressed a violent ejaculation of annoyance.

"But there's the money waiting for you," he protested, indignantly.

The rejoinder from Mary was spoken with great deliberation, yet with
a note of determination that caused a quick and acute anxiety to the
General's representative.

"I think," Mary explained tranquilly, "that you had better see our
lawyer, Mr. Harris, in reference to this. We women know nothing of such
details of business settlement."

"Oh, there's no need for all that formality," Irwin urged, with a great
appearance of bland friendliness.

"Just the same," Mary persisted, unimpressed, "I'm quite sure you would
better see Mr. Harris first." There was a cadence of insistence in her
voice that assured the lawyer as to the futility of further pretense on
his part.

"Oh, I see," he said disagreeably, with a frown to indicate his complete
sagacity in the premises.

"I thought you would, Mr. Irwin," Mary returned, and now she smiled in
a kindly manner, which, nevertheless, gave no pleasure to the chagrined
man before her. As he rose, she went on crisply: "If you'll take the
money to Mr. Harris, Miss Lynch will meet you in his office at four
o'clock this afternoon, and, when her suit for damages for breach
of promise has been legally settled out of court, you will get the
letters.... Good-afternoon, Mr. Irwin."

The lawyer made a hurried bow which took in both of the women, and
walked quickly toward the door. But he was arrested before he reached
it by the voice of Mary, speaking again, still in that imperturbable
evenness which so rasped his nerves, for all its mellow resonance