iously intended for the
information of all.

"My niece," he said, "is going to take the part which I had once hoped
my daughter might fill. If the occasion arises, you can speak of any
matter of business in which we may be interested, before her. It is
necessary," he continued, after a slight pause, "that there should be
some one in my household who is above suspicion, I might almost say,
above temptation. My niece will hold that post."

Then they all looked at her, and Virginia was a little frightened. It
did not seem to her necessary, however, to say anything. Two of the men
she met for the first time, but all were known to her by sight. There
was Stephen Weiss, the head of a great trust, long, lean, with
inscrutable face, and eyes hidden behind thick spectacles; Higgins, who
virtually controlled a great railway system; Littleson and Bardsley,
millionaires both, and politicians. It was a gathering of men of almost
limitless power; men who, according to some of the papers, lived with
their hands upon their country's throat. Littleson leaned over and spoke
to her not unkindly.

"I am sure," he said, "that your uncle has made a wise choice. There are
some secrets too great to be in one man's charge alone, and besides--"

Phineas Duge lifted his hand.

"Never mind the rest," he said. "I have not explained those
circumstances as yet to my niece. If you are quite ready, we will take
our coffee in the library." He turned to Virginia, who had risen at once
to leave them. "In an hour and a half exactly, Virginia," he said, "come
into the library. Not before."

She glanced at her watch and made a note of the hour. Then she wandered
off to one of the smaller drawing-rooms, and, to relieve a certain
strain of which she was somehow conscious, she played the piano softly.
In the middle of a nocturne of Chopin's the door was opened, and a young
man was shown into the room.

"I beg your pardon," he said, "you are Miss Longworth?"

She rose at once from the piano seat. He was not dressed for the
evening, and he carried a felt hat in his hand. Nevertheless his bearing
was pleasant enough, and he seemed to her a gentleman.

"I am Miss Longworth," she answered. "You want to see my uncle, I
suppose? They have made a mistake in showing you in here."

"Not at all," he answered, with an ingratiating smile. "I know that your
uncle is very busy, so I took the liberty of asking to see you. It is
such a simple matter I required, that