of the nicest young men in her
neighbourhood had been doing their best to make her vain since the day
when she had left college, an unusually early graduate, and returned to
her father's tiny home to become the acknowledged belle of the
neighbourhood. Here, though, she felt her looks of small avail; she
might reign as a queen in Wellham Springs, but she felt herself a very
insignificant person in the home of her uncle, the great railway
millionaire and financier, Mr. Phineas Duge. Her courage had almost
evaporated when at last, after a very careful knock at the door, an
English footman ushered her into the small and jealously guarded sanctum
in which the great man was sitting. She passed only a few steps across
the threshold, and stood there, a timid, hesitating figure, her dark
eyes very anxiously searching the features of the man who had risen from
his seat to greet her.

"So this is my niece Virginia," he said, holding out both his hands. "I
am glad to see you. Take this chair close to me. I am getting an old
man, you see, and I have many whims. I like to have any one with whom I
am talking almost at my elbow. Now tell me, my dear, what sort of a
journey you have had. You look a little tired, or is it because
everything here is strange to you?"

All her fears seemed to be melting away. Never could she have imagined a
more harmless-looking, benevolent, and handsome old gentleman. He was
thin and of only moderate stature. His white hair, of which he still had
plenty, was parted in the middle and brushed away in little waves. He
was clean-shaven, and his grey eyes were at once soft and humorous. He
had a delicate mouth, refined features, and his slow, distinct speech
was pleasant, almost soothing to listen to. She felt suddenly an immense
wave of relief, and she realized perhaps for the first time how much she
had dreaded this meeting.

"I am not really tired at all," she assured him, "only you see I have
never been in a big city, and it is very noisy here, isn't it? Besides,
I have never seen anything so beautiful as this house. I think it
frightened me a little."

He laid his hand upon hers kindly.

"I imagine," he said, smiling, "that you will very soon get used to
this. You will have the opportunity, if you choose."

She laughed softly.

"If I choose!" she repeated. "Why, it is all like fairyland to me."

He nodded.

"You come," he said, "from a very quiet life. You will find things here
different. Do y