something that the injured party would be able or likely to
forgive. If she should tell him everything, and he should refuse to be
placated--what could she do then?

There was no one else in the parlor, but seeing that she wanted as much
seclusion as possible, Mr. Weil motioned the girl to follow him to a
remote corner, where the curtains of a recessed window partially
concealed them. He felt that she had come on a momentous errand. His
suspicions concerning Mr. Fern were apparently about to be verified, and
if so, he did not mean that other ears should hear the tale.

"Mr. Weil," began Daisy, tremblingly, "I don't know what to say to you.
I am in great distress. Would you--will you--help me?"

He responded gently that he would do anything in his power. He bade her
calm herself, and promised to be the most attentive of listeners.

Reassured by his kind words and manner, the girl began again; but she
could not tell her story connectedly, and after making several attempts
to do so, she broke out in a new direction.

"I want so very much of you, dear Mr. Weil. And I am nervous and afraid
to ask what I would like. I will give you anything you please in return.
Yes, yes, anything."

He smiled down upon her face, on which the tears were making stains in
spite of her.

"You are promising a great deal, little girl," he said.

"I know it; I realize it fully," she responded quickly. "But I mean all
I say. I did not think I could, once, but I am quite resolved now.
Millie told me you were in love with me, and feared I would refuse you.
But I won't. No, no, I will marry you--indeed I will--if you will only
save my darling father!"

The concluding words were spoken in the midst of a torrent of sobs that
shook the girlish frame and affected powerfully the strong man that
witnessed them.

"Daisy, dear child, don't speak like this," he answered. "If I can do
anything for your father I will most gladly, and the price of your sweet
little heart shall not be demanded in payment, either. Leave that matter
entirely out of the question, and tell me at once what you desire."

She heard him with infinite delight, and wiping her eyes she began, in
broken tones, to relate the history of Hannibal's revelations. As she
proceeded his brow darkened, and when she had finished he muttered
something that sounded very much like a curse.

"And what do you wish of me?" he asked, when she had ended.

"To keep him from having my father put in