the
Washington Trust Company and ask for Mr. Gardiner. He will take care of
you," and he smiled pleasantly in dismissal.

The widow was much put out by this summary way of dealing, for she had
intended to pour out to the judge her doubts, though she probably knew
that in the end she should follow his advice. She hesitated in the
corridor of the court-house, saying something about not being in any
hurry to go to the Washington Trust Company. She had not fully made up
her mind, etc. But Adelle, as if she had not heard her aunt's
objections, set off down the street in the direction of the trust
company's handsome building. Her aunt followed her. The matter was thus
settled.

Adelle had also felt disappointed at their brief interview; not bitterly
disappointed because she never felt bitterly about anything, but
consciously sorry to have missed the expected conference in the judge's
private chamber. She might never see him again! As a matter of fact,
although the probate court necessarily had much to do with her fate in
the settlement of the involved estate, it was not for seven years that
she had another chance of seeing the judge in chambers, and that, as we
shall discover, was on a very different occasion. Whether during all
these years Adelle ever thought much about the judge, nobody knows, but
Judge Orcutt often had occasion to recollect the pale, badly dressed
little girl who had no manners, when he signed orders and approved
papers _in re Adelle Clark, minor_.

VII

The Washington Trust Company had grown in power to the envy of its
conservative rivals ever since its organization, and was now one of the
richest reservoirs of capital in the city. Recently it had moved into
its new home in the banking quarter of the city,--the most expensive,
commodious, and richly ornamented bank premises in B----. The Washington
Trust Company was managed by "the younger crowd," and one way in which
the new blood manifested itself was by the erection of this handsome
granite building with its ornate bronze and marble appointments. The
officers felt that theirs was a new kind of business, largely involving
women, invalids, and dependents of rich habits, and for these a display
of magnificence was "good business."

When Adelle and her aunt paused inside the massive bronze doors of the
Trust Building and looked about them in bewilderment across the immense
surface of polished marble floor, it probably did not occur to either