and did not return
until six. Half an hour later Mr. Stuart called at Laurel Cottage for
Mrs. Thurston in his automobile.

"We will take Miss Barbara with us to the hotel," he said to her mother,
"if you feel it will not injure her ankle. She need do no walking. I
should prefer that she be with you when you have an interview with your
brother. He is to see you at the hotel to-night. You will dine with me
first."

Barbara's foot being better, she and her mother asked no questions, but
with trembling fingers made ready to go.

"What do you mean," demanded Ruth and Mollie, "by going off on such a
mysterious errand? Why, Mr. Stuart," asked Ruth, "are Mollie and I not
also invited to dinner?"

Mr. Stuart was obdurate. He offered no explanations. When Ruth whispered
something in his ear, he answered quietly: "That will keep," and Ruth
said no more.

Mr. and Mrs. Le Baron bowed coldly to Mrs. Thurston and Barbara, when
entering the hotel dining room that night, they found the mother and
daughter dining with Mr. Stuart. But Gladys Le Baron stopped for a moment
at the able to inquire after Bab's foot. She was not the haughty girl she
once had been. Since her return from Newport she had seemed strangely
fond of Bab.

Barbara and her mother never knew how they got through their meal. But
Mr. Stuart was a tower of strength.

"We will not discuss business matters," he explained, "until we go
upstairs to my sitting room. Mr. Le Baron will join us there at half-past
eight."

When Ralph Le Baron entered Mr. Stuart's apartment to keep his
appointment, he did not look into his sister's face. He merely inquired
coldly: "How are you, Mollie?" and sat down near the small wood fire
which was burning cosily in the open grate. Not once did he glance at
Barbara, though she kept her eyes fixed steadily on him. He was a tall,
thin man, with high cheek bones and a nose like an eagle's.

"Mrs. Thurston," began Mr. Stuart, "your brother does not claim that he
paid to you or your husband the five thousand dollars which he
undoubtedly borrowed. When I first spoke to him of the matter he declared
he had never been loaned any such sum. He had great difficulty in
recalling the incident until I showed him his note which I still have in
my pocket. He explained afterwards, however, that the matter had passed
entirely out of his mind after your husband's death."

Mrs. Thurston looked at her brother questioningly. "It seems very strange
to me,