tone's mind was essentially a worldly one, and
it was beyond him to believe that an ambitious young man like Windle
Bent would care to ally himself with the daughter of an ex-convict. Bent
would have the best of excuses for breaking off all relations with the
Cotherstone family if the unpleasant truth came out. No!--whatever else
he did, he must keep his secret safe until Bent and Lettie were safely
married. That once accomplished, Cotherstone cared little about the
future: Bent could not go back on his wife. And so Cotherstone
endeavoured to calm himself, so that he could scheme and plot, and
before night came he paid a visit to his doctor, and when he went home
that evening, he had his plans laid.

Bent was with Lettie when Cotherstone got home, and Cotherstone
presently got the two of them into a little snuggery which he kept
sacred to himself as a rule. He sat down in his easy chair, and signed
to them to sit near him.

"I'm glad I found you together," he said. "There's something I want to
say. There's no call for you to be frightened, Lettie--but what I've got
to say is serious. And I'll put it straight--Bent'll understand. Now,
you'd arranged to get married next spring--six months hence. I want you
to change your minds, and to let it be as soon as you can."

He looked with a certain eager wistfulness at Lettie, expecting to see
her start with surprise. But fond as he was of her, Cotherstone had so
far failed to grasp the later developments of his daughter's character.
Lettie Cotherstone was not the sort of young woman who allows herself to
be surprised by anything. She was remarkably level-headed, cool of
thought, well able to take care of herself in every way, and fully alive
to the possibilities of her union with the rising young manufacturer.
And instead of showing any astonishment, she quietly asked her father
what he meant.

"I'll tell you," answered Cotherstone, greatly relieved to find that
both seemed inclined to talk matters quietly over. "It's this--I've not
been feeling as well as I ought to feel, lately. The fact is, Bent, I've
done too much in my time. A man can work too hard, you know--and it
tells on him in the end. So the doctor says, anyhow."

"The doctor!" exclaimed Lettie. "You haven't been to him?"

"Seen him this afternoon," replied Cotherstone. "Don't alarm yourself.
But that's what he says--naught wrong, all sound, but--it's time I
rested. Rest and change--complete change. And I've mad