'I think,' said Wentworth, 'we had better adjourn to my office and have a talk over the matter quietly there. Let us go into private session as the directors have done. I feel rich after having got my cheque, and the vote of thanks from the chairman; so I will spend a shilling on a hansom and get there with speed and comfort. Actually, since I have got back to London, I am spending all my surplus cash on hansoms. They are certainly the best and cheapest vehicles in the world. Think of what that pirate charged us for a ride from the hotel to the steamer in New York.' 'I don't like to think of it,' said Kenyon; 'it makes me shudder!' 'Do you know, John, I should not be inconsolable if I never saw the great city of New York again. London is good enough for me.' 'Oh, I don't know! New York is all right. I confess there are one or two of her citizens that I do not care much about.' 'Ah,' said Wentworth; then, after a few moments' reflection, he remarked suddenly, apropos of nothing: 'Do you know, John, I was very nearly in love with that girl?' 'I thought you were drifting in that direction.' 'Drifting! It wasn't drifting. It was a mad plunge down the rapids, and it is only lately I have begun to think what a close shave I had of it. The horror of those days, when I thought that despatch was going to New York, completely obliterated any other feeling in regard to her. If I had found she was a hopeless flirt, or something of that kind, who was trifling with me, I should have been very much shocked, of course, but I should have thought about my own feelings. Now, the curious thing is that I never began to think about them till I got to London.' 'Very well, Wentworth; I wouldn't think about them now, if I were you.' 'No, I don't intend to, particularly. The fact that I talk over them with you shows that the impression was not very deep.' Wentworth drew a long breath that might have been mistaken for a sigh, if he had not just before explained how completely free he was from the thraldom in which Miss Brewster at one time held him. 'Still, she was a very pretty girl, John. You can't deny that.' 'I have no wish to deny it. I simply don't want to think about her at all.' 'No, and we don't need to, thank goodness. But she _was_ very bright and clever. Of course you didn't know her as I did. I never before met anyone who--Well, that's all past and done with. I told her all about our mica-mine, and she gave me much sage advice.' Kenyon smiled, but held his peace. 'Oh yes, I know what you are thinking of. I spoke of other mines as well; still, that was my folly, and not her fault exactly. She imagined she was doing right, and after all, you know, I think we sometimes don't make enough allowance for another's point of view.' Kenyon laughed outright.