"Quite melodramatic, wasn't it?" she exclaimed, moving her skirts for him to sit by her side. "Dear little man! Do you know he wants to marry me?" "What a clever girl you are," Wolfenden remarked; "really you'd make an admirable wife for him." She pouted a little. "Thank you very much," she said. "I am not contemplating making any one an admirable wife; matrimony does not attract me at all." "I don't know what pleasure you can find in making a fool of a decent little chap like that," he said; "it's too bad of you, Blanche." "One must amuse oneself, and he is so odd and so very much in earnest." "Of course," Wolfenden continued, "I know that you had another object." "Had I?" "You came here to try and tempt the poor little fellow with a thousand pounds!" "I have never," she interposed calmly, "possessed a thousand shillings in my life." "Not on your own account, of course: you came on behalf of your employer, Mr. Sabin, or some one behind him! What is this devilry, Blanche?" She looked at him out of wide-open eyes, but she made no answer. "So far as I can see," he remarked, "I must confess that foolery seems a better term. I cannot imagine anything in my father's work worth the concoction of any elaborate scheme to steal. But never mind that; there is a scheme, and you are in it. Now I will make a proposition to you. It is a matter of money, I suppose; will you name your terms to come over to my side?" A look crept into her eyes which puzzled him. "Over to your side," she repeated thoughtfully. "Do you mind telling me exactly what you mean by that?" As though by accident the delicate white hand from which she had just withdrawn her glove touched his, and remained there as though inviting his clasp. She looked quickly up at him and drooped her eyes. Wolfenden took her hand, patted it kindly, and replaced it in her lap. "Look here, Blanche," he said, "I won't affect to misunderstand you; but haven't you learnt by this time that adventures are not in my way?--less now than at any time perhaps." She was watching his face and read its expression with lightning-like truth. "Bah!" she said, "there is no man who would be so brutal as you unless----" "Unless what?" "He were in love with another girl!" "Perhaps I am, Blanche!" "I know that you are." He looked at her quickly. "But you do not know with whom?" She had not guessed, but she knew now. "I think so," she said; "it is with the beautiful niece of Mr. Sabin! You have admirable taste." "Never mind about that," he said; "let us come to my offer. I will give you a hundred a year for life, settle it upon you, if you will tell me everything." "A hundred a year," she repeated. "Is that much money?" "Well, it will cost more than two thousand pound," he said; "still, I would like you to have it, and you shall if you will be quite frank with me." She hesitated.