was near, perhaps just around the corner. But in some manner, she
could not reach it. Sleep sank her deeper. When she awoke, there it was.

Now as she sat in the kitchen, before which, in the kitchen opposite,
bundles of baseless appearances came and went, she began counting her
wealth on her fingers. Youth! Up went her thumb. Health! The forefinger.
Lungs! The second finger. Not being a fright! The fourth. How rich she
was! But was there not something else? Oh, yes! Sadly she smiled. A
clear conscience! She had forgotten that and that came first. Youth,
health, lungs, looks, these were gamblers' tokens in the great roulette
of life. In the hazards of chance at any moment she might lose one or
all, as eventually she must lose them and remain no poorer than before.
But her first asset which she had counted last, that was her fortune,
the estate she held by virtue of a trust so guardedly created that if
she lost one mite, the whole treasure was withdrawn.

On the washtub--covered admirably with linoleum--at which she sat, were
the cheque for a thousand dollars and the bid from the vaudeville man.
The bid, she knew, meant money. But the cheque would beggar her.

She drew breath and sat back. From above a filter of sunlight fell and
told her it was noon. Across the court the bundles of baseless
appearances transformed themselves into a real woman, an actual child.
The kitchen in which they moved, the house in which they dwelled were no
longer the perceptions of a perceiver. They also were real. So, too, was
life.

An hour and Mr. Purdy's pasty face turned feebly red. He stammered it.

No, unfortunately, Mr. Dunwoodie was out. Would Mrs. Paliser wait? In
Mr. Dunwoodie's private office? And the 'Herald' perhaps or the
'Times'--or--or----

Everything there, Broad Street to boot, the Stock Exchange included, Mr.
Purdy was ready and anxious to offer.

No, Mrs. Paliser would not wait--and mentally she thanked her stars for
it. But would Mr. Purdy do something for her?

Would he! The brave spirit of Talleyrand must have animated that sickly
young man. If what Mrs. Paliser desired were possible it would be done:
if impossible, it was done already.

Cassy gave him the rare seduction of her smile. She also was
entertaining an emotion or two. She had not at all known where she would
find the strength to confront and confute a grandmotherly old ruffian.
But luck was with her. He was out.

So very good of Mr. Purdy then and w