s arm-chair and
closed his eyes. "If you don't mind, I think I should like a little nap.
What have you got so especially against Davenant, anyhow?"

"I've nothing against him--except that I've never liked him."

"What do you know about him? When did you ever see him?"

"I _haven't_ seen him for years--not since Drusilla used to bring him to
dances, when we were young girls. She didn't like it particularly, but
she had to do it because he was her father's ward and had gone to live
with them. He was uncouth--aggressive. Wasn't he a foundling, or a
street Arab, or something like that? He certainly seemed so. He wasn't a
bit--civilized. And once he--he said something--he almost insulted me.
You wouldn't take his money now, papa?"

There was no answer. He breathed gently. She spoke more forcibly.

"Papa, you wouldn't let a stranger pay your debts?"

He continued to breathe gently, his eyes closed, the long black lashes
curling on his cheek.

"Papa, darling," she cried, "I'll help you. I'll take everything on
myself. I'll find a way--somehow. Only, _don't_ do this."

He stirred, and murmured sleepily.

"You attend to your wedding, dear. That'll be quite enough for you to
look after."

"But I can't have a wedding if Mr. Davenant has to pay for it. Don't you
see? I can't be married at all."

When he made no response to this shot, she understood finally that he
meant to let the subject drop.

VII

It was in the nature of a relief to Olivia Guion when, on the following
day, her father was too ill to go to his office. A cold, caused by the
exposure of two nights previous, and accompanied by a rising
temperature, kept him confined to his room, though not to bed. The
occurrence, by maintaining the situation where it was, rendered it
impossible to take any irretrievable step that day. This was so much
gain.

She had slept little; she had passed most of the night in active and, as
it seemed to her, lucid thinking. Among the points clearest to her was
the degree to which she herself was involved in the present business. In
a measure, the transfer of a large sum of money from Peter Davenant to
her father would be an incident more vital to her than to any one else,
since she more than any one else must inherit its moral effects. While
she was at a loss to see what the man could claim from them in return
for his generosity, she was convinced that his exactions would be not
unconnected with herself. If, on the oth