closely pressed over her eyes.

"I do not believe it," she sobbed. "He has scarcely looked at me all the
time, and I do not want him to. He despises us all--and I don't blame
him. It is horrid!"

Mrs. Da Souza, with a smile which was meant to be arch, had something to
say, but the arrival of breakfast broke up for a while the conversation.
Her husband, whom Nature had blessed with a hearty appetite at all
times, was this morning after his triumph almost disposed to be
boisterous. He praised the cooking, chaffed the servants to their
infinite disgust, and continually urged his wife and daughter to keep
pace with him in his onslaught upon the various dishes which were placed
before him. Before the meal was over Julie had escaped from the table
crying softly. Mr. Da Souza's face darkened as he looked up at the sound
of her movement, only to see her skirt vanishing through the door.

"Shall you have trouble with her, my dear?" he asked his wife anxiously.

That estimable lady shook her head with a placid smile. "Julie is so
sensitive," she muttered, "but she is not disobedient. When the time
comes I can make her mind."

"But the time has come!" Da Souza exclaimed. "It is here now, and
Julie is sulky. She will have red eyes and she is not gay! She will not
attract him. You must speak with her, my dear."

"I will go now--this instant," she answered, rising. "But, Hiram, there
is one thing I would much like to know."

"Ugh! You women! You are always like that! There is so much that you
want to know!"

"Most women, Hiram--not me! Do I ever seek to know your secrets? But
this time--yes, it would be wiser to tell me a little!"

"Well?"

"This Mr. Trent, he asked us here, but it is plain that our company is
not pleasant to him. He does his best to get rid of us--he succeeds--he
plans that we shall not return. You see him alone and all that is
altered. His little scheme has been in vain. We remain! He does not look
at our Julie. He speaks of marriage with contempt. Yet you say he will
marry her--he, a millionaire! What does it mean, Hiram?"

"The man, he is in my power," Da Souza says in a ponderous and stealthy
whisper. "I know something."

She rose and imprinted a solemn kiss upon his forehead. There was
something sacramental about the deliberate caress.

"Hiram," she said, "you are a wonderful man!"

CHAPTER XIV

Scarlett Trent spent the first part of the morning, to which he had been
looking forward so