tect his
purpose.

"Julia, if you brought those documents with you I'll take them up to my
room and look them over. It's only a matter of my signature, isn't it?
You and Mr. Comly can give the final twist to prehistoric art. I'll be
down at once."

"Very well; you will find them in my bag in the hall. I must start home
very soon, you know."

"I had hoped you would spend the night here," said the Governor; "but if
you won't I'm grateful even for this little glimpse."

If Julia was displeased by the Governor's very evident intention not to
be left alone with her she was at pains to conceal the feeling. Archie
turned toward her inquiringly, but he met a look of acquiescence that
carried also an appeal as though she wished him not to interfere.

The Governor left the room and reappeared with a small satchel, took out
several bundles of legal papers and glanced at their superscriptions.

"Those are chiefly deeds and leases," Julia remarked carelessly.
"They're all ready to be signed by the trustees. There are forms for our
approval attached to all of them and you'll find that I've signed."

The Governor shrugged his shoulders as though business matters were not
to his taste and in a moment they heard his quick step on the stair.

The novelty of the situation that left Archie alone with a woman whose
very name he did not know was enhanced by the sumptuousness of the
background furnished by the house itself. It was the oddest possible
place for such an adventure. Julia sat with one arm flung along the back
of a low chair. She fell naturally into poses that suggested portraits;
there were painters who would have jumped at the chance of sketching her
as she sat there with the spot of red in the big hat and the shadowed
face and the white of her throat and arms relieving the long black line.

"It is no doubt clear to you," she remarked without altering her
position and with no lowering of the habitual tone of her speech, "that
my brother prefers not to be alone with me."

"I rather surmised that," Archie replied with an ease he did not feel.
She might ask questions; it might be that she would cross-examine him as
to the Governor's recent movements. He turned to drop his cigarette into
the brass receiver at his elbow to avoid contact with her gaze, which
was bent upon him disconcertingly.

"We have but a moment, and we must have a care not to seem to be
confidential. He didn't close his door, I think."

The draperies