"Oh, Mr. Swift," said Patsie, breaking in and seizing his hand impulsively, "you _will_ help me, won't you?" Mr. Swift gazed at her blankly, a hundred thoughts racing through his mind; still too upset by the news he had just received, which could not fail to be full of significance to his own fortunes, to be able to focus for the moment on the immediate decision. Patsie repeated her demand with a quivering lip. He came out of his abstraction and began to think, arranging and rearranging a pile of letters before him, convinced at last that the situation was of the highest seriousness. "Wait, wait a moment; I must think it over," he said slowly. "This is an unusually serious decision you have put up to me. My dear Patsie, you know nothing about such matters; you're a child." "I am eighteen and I have a right to dispose of what belongs to me." "Yes, yes, you have the right, but I have the right also to advise you and to make you see the situation as it exists." His manner changed immediately and he said simply and frankly, "Since you have trusted me, you must give me your full confidence. I shan't abuse it. Mr. Crocker, I can see by your manner and your attempt at caution that this matter is not a trifle. Do you know from your own knowledge how serious it is? Please do not hide anything from me." "I won't," said Bojo. "I know of my personal knowledge and I believe it to be as serious as it can possibly be." The two men exchanged a glance and the look in both their eyes told Swift even more than his words revealed, more than he wished Patsie herself to suspect. "Suppose the very worst were true," said Mr. Swift after a moment's thought, "that your father was in danger of complete failure? I am merely supposing this extreme case to show you the difficulty of my position. Your father has placed these securities to your account with the distinct intention that whatever happens to him you shall be provided for as his other daughters are provided for, and undoubtedly his wife is taken care of. If I should allow you to do this, even as a matter of sentiment it is possible in an extreme case everything you have as well as everything your father possesses might be wiped away. Do you realize that?" "And that's just what I am afraid may happen," she exclaimed, worried beyond the thought of caution by her forebodings. "And you are willing to take the risk of losing everything?" he said slowly; "for after all there is no reason why you should sacrifice what belongs to you rightfully and legally even if your father should fail completely." "No reason?" she cried. "Do you think for a moment that money means anything to me when he, my father, the one who has given it to me, needs it?" "But if even this won't save him?" he persisted, shaking his head. "What has that got to do with the question?" she said impatiently, almost angrily. "Everything I have I want him to have. That's all there is to it."