business. The instant she was gone, out from the bay window stalked
her husband! By that time I was at the door. I'd opened it for Mrs.
Sands. I hardly dared glance at him--it seemed so prying. All I
know--for sure, now--is that he stopped for an instant at the table. He
had to pass it, on the way from his hiding place to the door. I supposed
then, when he paused there, that he would be gazing at the empty velvet
case. But he may have been doing something different--I'll tell you why
and what, in a minute.

"I stood without moving, and, as he came near the door he stopped again.
'Miss Blackburne,' he said, 'you've been mixed up against your will, and
not by any fault of your own, in an unfortunate business. It's a family
affair, and I feel certain you'll keep your own counsel. Don't think I'm
trying to bribe you. I'm not. But I should like you to accept this.' My
arms were hanging straight down at my sides, but he managed to stick
something into one of my hands. What do you think it was?"

"Fifty dollars?" her mother guessed.

"Fifty fiddlesticks! It was five hundred!"

"My heavens! Enough to pay off the mortgage. But you couldn't possibly
accept it?"

"I said no. I swore that I'd done nothing to earn a cent: that wild
horses wouldn't drag from me anything I'd seen, or heard, or even
imagined, in his house. But Mr. Sands insisted. 'It will give me
pleasure for you to have the money. It's little enough,' he said. Then
he walked right out. He must have gone back to his own room instead of
leaving the flat just then, for I saw him again later. I'll tell you
about that. But do you think it was wrong to keep the money?"

"In the circumstances, no," Mrs. Blackburne decided. "It would have hurt
his feelings to give it back. Oh, my dear, five hundred dollars! It's
like a fairy gift, just when we're needing it so much!"

"Well, I'd got the bills tucked away when Mrs. Sands came running in.
She made for the table, the way a pointer goes for a shot bird. She
hadn't a glance for the velvet case. She was searching for something
else. Oh, Mother, it scared me to see her! She threw everything about.
She was out of her head. A tall vase of flowers tipped over, and
splashed water on the books, and even on the velvet case. I don't think
she knew it had happened. Books fell on the floor. She didn't see or
care. Then she sank all of a heap into a big chair close by. 'The
envelope?' she gasped, as if she were choked by a hand on her