'You know that mortgage on the house,' he said quickly. 'I got it all arranged at once. Dain was to have sent the deed in last Tuesday night for you to sign, but he sent in a letter instead. That's why I had to go over and see him. There was some confounded hitch at the last moment, a flaw in the title----' 'A flaw in the title!' It was the phrase only that alarmed her. 'Oh! It's all _right_,' said Stanway, wondering angrily why women should always, by the trick of seizing on trifles, destroy the true perspective of a business affair. 'The title's all right, at least it will be put right. But it means delay, and I can't wait. I must have money at once, in three days. Can you understand that, my girl?' By an effort she conquered the impulses to ask why, and why, and why; and to suggest economy in the house. Something came to her mysteriously out of her memory of her own father's affairs, a sudden inspiration; and she said: 'Can't you deposit my deeds at the bank and get a temporary advance?' She was very proud of this clever suggestion. He shook his head: 'No, the bank won't.' The fact was that the bank had long been pressing him to deposit security for his over-draft. 'I tell you what might be done,' he said, brightening as her idea gave birth to another one in his mind. 'Uncle Meshach might lend some money on the deeds. You shall go down to-morrow morning and ask him, Nora.' 'Me!' She was scared at this result. 'Yes, you,' he insisted, full of eagerness. 'It's your house. Ask him to let you have five hundred on the house for a short while. Tell him we want it. You can get round him easily enough.' 'Jack, I can't do it, really.' 'Oh yes, you can,' he assured her. 'No one better. He likes you. He doesn't like me--never did. Ask him for five hundred. No, ask him for a thousand. May as well make it a thousand. It'll be all the same to him. You go down in the morning, and do it for me.' Stanway's animation became quite cheerful. 'But about the title--the flaw?' she feebly questioned. 'That won't frighten uncle,' said Stanway positively. 'He knows the title is good enough. That's only a technical detail.' 'Very well,' she agreed, 'I'll do what I can, Jack.' 'That's good,' he said. And even now, the resolve once made, she did not lose her sense of tranquil optimism, her mild happiness, her widespreading benevolence. The result of this talk with John aroused in her an innocent vanity, for was it not indirectly due to herself that John had been able to see a way out of his difficulties? They soon afterwards dismissed the subject, put it with care away in a corner; and John finished his supper. 'Is Mr. Twemlow still in the district?' she asked vivaciously. 'Yes,' said John, and there was a pause. 'You're doing some business together, aren't you, Jack?' she hazarded. John hesitated. 'No,' he said, 'he only wanted to see me about old Twemlow's estate--some details he was after.'