times he uttered angry oaths; but though
Harriet watched him narrowly, and felt in every
nerve the annoyance under which he was labouring,
she preserved her calm manner, and went
steadily on with her task: condensing the
contents of several papers into brief memoranda,
carefully tearing up the originals, and placing
the little heaps methodically beside her for
consignment to the fire. At length Routh again
stood up, and lounged against the mantelpiece.

"All these must be paid, then, Harry?" he
asked, as he lighted a cigar, and began to smoke
sullenly.

"Yes," she answered, cheerfully. "You know,
dear, it has always been our rule, as it has
hitherto constituted our safety, to stand well with
our tradespeople, and pay them, at least,
punctually. We have never been so much behind-
hand; and as you are about to take a bolder
flight than usual, it is doubly necessary that we
should be untrammelled. Fancy Flinders
getting snubbed by the landlady, or your being
arrested for your tailor's bills, at the time when
the new Company is coming out!"

"Hang it! the bills all seem to be mine,"
growled Routh. "Where are yours? Haven't
you got any?"

It would have been difficult to induce an
unseen witness to believe how utterly unscrupulous,
remorseless, conscienceless a woman
Harriet Routh had become, if he had seen the
smile with which she answered her husband's
half-admiring, half-querulous question.

"You know, dear, I don't need much. I
have not to keep up appearances as you have.
You are in the celebrated category of those who
cannot afford to be anything but well dressed.
It's no matter for me, but it's a matter of
business for you."

"Ah! I might have known you'd have some
self-denying, sensible reason ready; but the
puzzle to me is, that you always are well dressed.
By Jove, you're the neatest woman I know, and
the prettiest!"

The smile upon her face brightened, but she
only shook her head, and went on:

"If Dallas does not get the money, or at
least some of it, what do you propose to do? I
don't know."

"Do you think he will get the money,
Harry? He told you all about it. What are
the odds?"

"I cannot even guess. All depends on his
mother. If she is courageous, and fond of him,
she will get it for him, even supposing her
immediate control as small as he believes it to be.
If she is not courageous, her being fond of him
will do very little good, and women are mostly
cowards," said Harriet, composedly.

"I never calculated much on the chance,"
said Routh, "and indeed it would be foolish to
take the money if he got it—in that way, at
least; for though I am sorry Deane profited by
the young fellow, that's because I hate Deane.
It's all right, for my purpose, that Dallas should
be indebted as largely as may be to me. He's
useful in more ways than one; his connexion
with the press serves our turn, Harry, doesn't
it? Especially when you work it so well, and
give him such judicious hints, such precious
confidences."

(Even such praise as this, the woman's
perverted nature craved and prized.) "You won't
need to take the money from him in formal
payment," she said, "if that's what you want
to avoid. If he returns with that sum in his
pocket, he will not be long before he—— "

A knock at the door interrupted her, and
George Dallas entered the room.

He looked weary and dispirited, and, before the
customary greetings had been exchanged, Routh
and Harriet saw that failure had been the result
of experiment. Harriet's eyes sought her
husband's face, and read in it the extent of his
discomfiture; and the furtive glance she turned on
Dallas was full of resentment. But it found no
expression in her voice, as she asked him
common-place questions about his journey, and
busied herself in setting a chair for him by the
fire, putting his hat aside, and begging him to
take off his overcoat. He complied. As he
threw the coat on a chair, he said, with a very
moderately successful attempt at pleasantry:

"I have come back richer than I went,
Mrs. Routh, by that elegant garment, and no
more."

"Bowled out, eh?" asked Routh, taking the
cigar from his mouth, and laying it on the
mantelpiece.

"Stumped, sir," replied Dallas.

Harriet said nothing.

"That's bad, Dallas."

"Very bad, my dear fellow, but very true.
Look here," the young man continued, with
earnestness, "I don't know what to do. I
don't, upon my soul? I saw my mother——"

"Yes?" said Harriet, going up to his side.
"Well?"

"I saw her, and—and she is unable. to help
me; she is, indeed, Mrs. Routh," for a bitter
smile was on Harriet's face, turned full upon
him. "She hasn't the means. I never understood
her position until last night, but I understood
it then. She is——" he stopped. All
his better nature forbad his speaking of his
mother's position to these people. Her influence,
the gentler, better influence, was over him still.
However transitory it might prove, it had not
passed yet. Harriet Routh knew as well as he
did what the impulse was that arrested his
speech.

"You will tell me all about it yet," she
thought, and not a sign of impatience appeared
in her face.

"I—I need not bore you with details," he
went on. "She could not give me the money.
She made me understand that. But she
promised to get it for me, in some way or other, if
the thing is within the reach of possibility,
before a month expires. I know she will do it,
but I must give her time, if it's to be
forthcoming, and you must give me time."

"It's unfortunate, Dallas," Routh began, in
a cold voice, "and, of course, it's all very