The Daughter Pays

elt like some

done with, and

e, no pleasure,

ld have hope tha

ember her, an

-Jean

edium of London atmosphere, illumined the long ex

glimmered with a suggestion of coolness, a hint of ice; and the summer light touched with brilli

d threw into strong relief the figures of two girls, deep in co

all that luxury could produce in the way of exotic perfection. But for the absence of rouge and powder, they were as far removed from the dingy, the commonplace, or the und

lie in the lilies of life. They belonged to the class which a novelist of our own day has so happily descri

lithe grace of the modern Atalanta. Something in the veiled loveliness of her soft eye suggested a dove. Her hair was fair, and her face, wide across the brows, and tapering at the chin, seemed designed to make an involuntary appeal to the heartstrings

who entered, with halting step, from Gallery

black moustache gave him a slightly out-of-date, or provincial, aspect. His blac

d of the gallery: and as he gazed there crept into his face an expression which made it almost devilish. Every feature harde

ade the other laugh. The chime of their mirth sounded sweetly through the empty space, but brought to the lips of the watcher a curl of contempt. He began

dress this would make, for anybody that could wear it." They were standin

iately reply, she added insist

the name; yet a certain satisfaction crept into his eyes, as

its with his small son. "What? A fancy dress? Oh, Mims, yes! That little bit of stiffened lace

about the way to copy it. "Gold embroidery all down the front of her go

a throat. But what did little people like me do, when

for a ruff! But then, en revanche, you can wear all tho

colours she meant, she slightly brushed against him, for he was standing within a few feet of her. He stepped back, raising his hat in acknowledgment of her gentle apology;

d to read hostility in the eyes of men. She recovered, however, in a moment, and continued her stu

There is a custodian there, and t

look at the Greuze

careful, however, and kept his eyes for the beauties of the catalogu

ginia doubtfully. "He looked at me almost as though he

alone," laughed Mims. "As if he knew you, indeed! That's the commonest dod

ke no notice. He could not be rude in a public place

hievously, pausing before Greuze's picture en

htly as she gazed. "Chocolate box!" said she disdainfully. "Greuze

grace, the lame man having again approached ne

about without dragging backwards the heads of al

with a little sigh: "Well, you won't long be troubled. Cinderella's clo

ft, dark ey

h, the pity! I could cry when I think of you, mewed up in that wee brick-box of a villa, and when I remember th

can't be helped, you know; and, of course, it

not only by her friend's impending departure,

g. She was the elder daughter of a county gentleman, her clothes came from the best places, she took all the ex

ary, she was no more prepared than was her butterfly mother for the state of financial catastrophe revealed at his death. The solid ground had failed beneath her feet. Everything was gone. Even Lissendean, the home

re, and, as a day boy, Antony, who was nearly fourteen, might obtain the education of a gentleman. For nearly two years now such h

ol with the daughter of Bernard Mynors. The Rosenbergs, brother and sister, had more than once accepted the whole-hearted hospitality of Lissendea

housework while she herself was away. She belonged, indeed, to that wonderful type of woman who can make a pound, expended upon clothes, go as far as another woman makes five, or even ten. She arrived in Bryanston Square for her visit with exactly the right frocks, with her spirits high, and

or her misfortunes with the gift of all his wealth and all his social ambition. As a man of business, he divined her mother to have been the ruin of the family. He knew Mrs. Mynors as a lovely, vain, shallow and selfish person, wh

ances he felt it to be impossible. He did not know that it was at Gerald's instigation that Mims had gone to the length of actually financing the scheme of the visit. Yet his shrewdness

raught with particular danger. Mr. Rosenberg could not feel that he was as yet "out of the wood," and would probably have unde

st walk right away, out of the place," muttered Mims p

t the top of the staircase, in that recess. Then we shall see Mr. Rosenberg as he

in which the stranger seemed to be absorbed in contemplation, and se

n them there; and they sat on undisturbed until they saw the

ed to him, and in a mo

y?" he asked, glancing at his

s," replied his sister, noting that the lame man was now sta

l of this statue, boy," she went on mis

r prided himself upon the fact that his son's face showed no racial characteristics. His features were clean-cut, he was well-shaved and well-groomed, carried himself with digni

sois, voici

e fut, ou l

asked Mims naughtily.

rue, Mis

love which is stronger than anything or anybody-but not that love-not that silly winged boy." She blushed a little as she spoke, and looked

said, speaking with extra

e would give away her head, her heart, her hand, anything sh

eprovingly pu

her friend. "Isn't

ng in the simplicity of this girl. With a face that might have brought the world to her feet, she w

in which she had left the two to talk together. "Are you going to take us to Fuller's, Gerald? If so,

n-scouring, bed-making, account-keeping, making-ends-meet existence. The pang that shot through Gerald's heart was so like physical pain that he had a fa

he let

money which was to establish his position among English gentry. There was a sharp struggle in his mind

tor in waiting, with its two men in livery. As he turned about and reascended to enter the galleries once more, there was a