e thought it over day by day, and
night by night.

Among the things he did before leaving New York--for he felt that a
journey was necessary for him--was to seek out Millicent. He found the
elder sister adamant to every suggestion of love for her family. She
believed herself injured by them, and would have nothing more to do with
either. As to the strange affair regarding Daisy she declared she had no
theory. She did not think it sufficiently interesting even to try to
formulate one. Her time was given to writing, and she had found another
assistant that quite filled Roseleaf's place. The firm of Scratch &
Bytum had accepted her latest novel, as she did not care to have
anything more to do with Mr. Gouger.

When she mentioned the name of Roseleaf, Mr. Weil looked at her
intently, and saw that she uttered it with the utmost calmness. She had
hardened. Her fancied grievances had made her a different woman. She was
cynical before, but now she was bitter. He would not have believed that
such an alteration could have taken place in so short a time.

"What is your new book about?" he asked, trying to be polite.

"Crime!" she answered briefly. "It deals with the lowest of the low. It
suits the mood I am in. I am writing of things so terrible that they
will hardly be credited. To get at my facts I have to go into the most
depraved quarters, and associate with the _canaille_. But I am going to
make a hit that has not been equaled in recent years!"

He smiled sadly.

"Roseleaf had the same expectation," he said. "And yet he tells me that
he is doing nothing on that wonderful tale over which I have heard
Gouger rave so often. He has reached a point where he can go no farther,
and unless he rouses himself, all he has done is merely wasted time."

Millicent closed her eyes till they resembled those of a cat at noonday.

"Keep watch for mine," she said. "It will be all I claim for it."

During the winter Mr. Weil was in California. As spring approached he
returned to the East and visited a well known resort in North Carolina,
where by one of those curious coincidences that happen to travelers, he
found himself placed at table exactly opposite to Mr. Walker Boggs. The
ordinary salutations and explanations followed, and then Mr. Boggs
alluded to a more interesting subject.

"I think I can surprise you," he remarked, "by something that I learned
the other day. Mr. Fern and Miss Daisy are living within five miles of
here."