mirror. Nancy was very glad, for a moment, that she was looking her
best. She flushed a little, took another step forward, and said:

"How do you do, Mr. Gordon?"

"What do you want now?" demanded the lawyer, ungraciously.

"I want you to see me and tell me if you are satisfied with my progress,
sir," she said, boldly, as she had intended.

"Humph! I receive reports from the woman who runs that school."

"But you don't know how I look--how much I've grown."

"Come around here, then, and let's look at you," he growled, although he
had been staring at her, she knew, since the moment she entered the
office.

His big face was quite as expressionless as it had been nearly two years
before when she first remembered having seen it. If the little eyes
showed any expression when she first entered it was now hidden.

"You look like a well-grown girl--for your age," he said, with some
hesitation. "What do you want?"

"To know if you can tell me anything more about myself--or my
people--or what is to become of me when my schooling is done?"

"I can tell you nothing," he replied, his brows drawing together.

"I have learned typewriting, and I am excellent in spelling, and Miss
Meader is teaching me stenography," she said, simply. "If--if the money
should--should stop coming any time, I thought I would better know how
to go about supporting myself."

"Ha!" He stared at her then with some emotion which sent a quick wave of
color into his unhealthy cheek.

"What's that for?" he demanded, at last.

"What is what for, sir?"

"Your getting ready to earn your livelihood?"

"You say you do not know anything about the source of my income. It may
stop any time."

"Well?"

"Then wouldn't it be necessary for me to go to work?"

"You wouldn't want to take money from _me_, then?" he snapped.

"Why, I--I--You say you're not even my guardian. I've no reason to
expect anything from you if the money stops coming. Isn't that so?"

"Independent--eh?" he said, with a brief chuckle.

"I hope to be able to get along when I have to."

"_When_ you have to?"

"_If_ I have to, then," she said, nodding.

"Well! Maybe you're right. No knowing what might happen," he said, as
though ruminating. "Say! Anybody ever talk to you about this money I
have to spend on you?"

"No-o, sir. Only my chum and I talk about it," said Nancy, slowly.

"Curious, I suppose?"

"Yes, sir," replied Nancy, slowly. "And yet, it is more than curiosity.