f his difficult situations.
His life was full of such difficult situations, no doubt,--had been for
years--and the Honorable Milton was accustomed to relying upon himself
to surmount them as he saw fit.

Far from feeling any resentment of his uncle's refusal of his boyish
offer of assistance, therefore, Phil now regarded the offer itself as
somewhat ridiculous from his uncle's standpoint. To one of such large
connections ten thousand dollars was the same as a hundred-dollar bill
to the average man. Yet his uncle had thanked him for his good
intentions and tactfully had made him feel that the appreciation was
sincere. At no time had the two been in closer sympathy than during
this unexpected interview. His uncle was not given to sentiment.
Perhaps the liquor----

Phil paused in the act of lacing his boot to frown out the window. The
Honorable Milton Waring undoubtedly was greatly worried about
something--financial affairs maybe. Or was that only one side of it,
incidental to something not so simple of adjustment? The searching
look, the solemnity of the words which had followed that sudden
outburst against political conditions of the day, that reference to one
man fighting a pack of wolves--what about that? No matter what
happened he wanted his nephew to continue believing that he had tried
to do his duty.

No matter what happened! It was this remark, more than any other,
which fostered Kendrick's disquietude. Something was liable to happen,
then?--something calling for a blind exercise of faith in his uncle;
something which on the surface might seem to question his--his what?
Integrity? Political honor? Social standing? Or was it merely an
emphasis of speech with no special significance? Phil shifted uneasily
on the chair as he thought of his aunt's position if some catastrophe
befell his uncle. If any trouble of that kind were likely to develop,
surely his uncle would have told him. Well, there was no use in
getting himself all worked up over nothing.

He began to whistle softly as he rummaged among his ties. Then his
thoughts switched to the girl with whom he had talked in the fog. If
he had only known then what he knew now! She had been spying upon the
Waring residence, upon this secret meeting with the Honorable Milton.
That much seemed certain. But why was she interested in what had
transpired? Who was she? And what had transpired? It was lack of
this information which made it difficult