presents; she felt that if she had expressed a desire for the moon, he would have ordered the longest ladder that the world had ever seen in order, anyhow, to make preliminary investigations with regard to the possibility of securing it. He apparently had not the slightest notion of the value of money, no ideas of his were connected with it, and though this argued a certain defective apparatus in this money-seeking world, as if a man went out to walk in a place full of revolver-armed burglars with no more equipment than a penny cane, she could not help liking his _insouciance_. Once she taxed him with his imprudence, and he had told her, with great indignation, how he had read nothing but financial papers for a whole week earlier in the summer, and at the end, instead of spending a couple of thousand pounds in various delightful ways, he had invested it in some South African company in which--well, a man who was very acute in such matters was much interested. And yet she called him imprudent! After lunch they strolled across to the lawn where circulation was forbidden. "We won't be breaking any rules," said he, "unless the word applies to the currents of the blood, because we will sit under a tree and probably sleep. I can think of nothing which so little resembles circulation as that." Letters and papers had arrived during lunch, and Evelyn gave a great laugh of amusement as he opened one from Lady Taverner, asking if he would be in London during October, and could resume--this was diplomatic--the sittings that had been interrupted. "Even that branch of my career hasn't suffered," he observed. There was nothing more of epistolary interest, and he opened the paper. There, too, the world seemed to be standing still. There had been a skirmish between Russian and Japanese outposts at a place called something like Pingpong, fiscalitis seemed to be spreading a little, but otherwise news was meagre. "Is there nothing?" asked Madge, when he had read out these headings. "No, not a birth or death even. Oh, by-the-way, you called me imprudent the other day! Now we'll find the money-market, and see what my two thousand pounds is worth. Great Scott, what names they deal in--Metiekull, that's it." There was a long silence. Then Evelyn laughed, a sudden little, bitter laugh, which was new to Madge's ears. "Yes, I bought them at 4," he said. "They are now 2. That was a grand piece of information Philip gave me." He got up. "Oh, Evelyn, how horrible!" she cried. "Where are you going?" "Just to telegraph to them to sell out," he said. "I can't afford to lose any more. I'll be back in a minute. And when I come back, dear, please don't allude to this again. It is unpleasant; and that is an excellent reason for ceasing to think about it. In fact, it is the best reason." [Illustration: text decoration] [Illustration: text decoration] FOURTEENTH