'Well, so long. I'll see you later.' 'It can't be true--it can't be true!' Wentworth repeated to himself in deep consternation, but still an inward misgiving warned him that, after all, it might be true. With his hands clasped behind him he walked up and down, trying to collect himself--trying to remember what he had told and what he had not. As he walked along, heeding nobody, a sweet voice from one of the chairs thrilled him, and he paused. 'Why, Mr. Wentworth, what is the matter with you this morning? You look as if you had seen a ghost.' Wentworth glanced at the young woman seated in the chair, who was gazing up brightly at him. 'Well,' he said at last, 'I am not sure but I _have_ seen a ghost. May I sit down beside you?' 'May you? Why, of course you may. I shall be delighted to have you. Is there anything wrong?' 'I don't know. Yes, I think there is.' 'Well, tell it to me; perhaps I can help you. A woman's wit, you know. What is the trouble?' 'May I ask you a few questions, Miss Brewster?' 'Certainly. A thousand of them, if you like, and I will answer them all if I can.' 'Thank you. Will you tell me, Miss Brewster, if you are connected with any newspaper?' Miss Brewster laughed her merry, silvery little laugh. 'Who told you? Ah! I see how it is. It was that creature Fleming. I'll get even with him for this some day. I know what office he is after, and the next time he wants a good notice from the _Argus_ he'll get it; see if he don't. I know some things about him that he would just as soon not see in print. Why, what a fool the man is! I suppose he told you out of revenge because I wouldn't speak to him the other evening. Never mind; I can afford to wait.' 'Then--then, Miss Brewster, it _is_ true?' 'Certainly it is true; is there anything wrong about it? I hope you don't think it is disreputable to belong to a good newspaper?' 'To a good newspaper, no; to a bad newspaper, yes.' 'Oh, I don't think the _Argus_ is a bad newspaper. It pays me well.' 'Then it is to the _Argus_ that you belong?' 'Certainly.' 'May I ask, Miss Brewster, if there is anything I have spoken about to you that you intend to use in your paper?' Again Miss Brewster laughed. 'I will be perfectly frank with you. I never tell a lie--it doesn't pay. Yes. The reason I am here is because _you_ are here. I am here to find out what your report on those mines will be, also what the report of your friend will be. I have found out.' 'And do you intend to use the information you have thus obtained--if I may say it--under false pretences?' 'My dear sir, you are forgetting yourself. You must remember that you are talking to a lady.' 'A lady!' cried Wentworth in his anguish. 'Yes, sir, a lady; and you must be careful how you talk to _this_ lady. There was no false pretence about it, if you remember. What you told me was in conversation; I didn't ask you for it. I didn't even make the first advances towards your acquaintance.'