"Of course I know," Stella said, spreading herself out on a sofa, and smiling in amusement at the other's slight embarrassment, "that I am in disgrace with my beloved parent, and that you are half afraid to talk to me. Still, you must remember that you owe me a little consideration, for you have taken my place, and turned me out into the cold world." "You must not talk like that, please," Virginia said quietly. "You know very well that I have done nothing of the sort. When my uncle sent for me, I had no idea that you were not still living with him." "I lived with him for three years," Stella said, "after I had come back from Europe. I call that a very wonderful record. I give you about three months." "I don't know why you should say this," Virginia answered. "I find my uncle very easy to get on with so long as he is obeyed." Stella smiled. "Ah, well!" she said, "I don't want to dishearten you, only you seem rather a nice little thing, and I am afraid you don't quite understand the sort of man my father is. However, you'll find out, and until you do I should have as good a time as I could if I were you. How do you like New York?" "How could I help liking it?" Virginia answered. "I came here from a little wooden farmhouse in a desolate part of the country. I did not know what luxury was. Here I have a maid, a suite of rooms, an automobile, and all manner of wonderful things, all of my own." "Will you be willing," Stella asked calmly, "to pay the price when the time comes?" Virginia looked at her wonderingly. "The price?" she asked. "What do you mean?" Stella laughed a little hardly. "Little girl," she said, "you are very young. Let me tell you this. My father never did a kind action in his life for its own sake. He never befriended any one for any other motive than that some day or other he meant to exact some return for it. Your time hasn't come yet, but there will be something some day which will help you to understand." Virginia sat upright in her seat. A very becoming touch of colour had stolen into her cheeks, and her eyes were bright. "I like to talk to you, Stella," she said, "because you are my cousin, and none of these other people are even my friends yet, but I cannot listen to you if you talk like this of the man who has been so kind to me, especially," she added, "as he is your father and my uncle." Stella leaned over and patted her hand patronizingly. "Silly little girl!" she said. "Never mind, we shall be friends some day, I dare say. You daren't come and see me, I suppose?" Virginia shook her head. "Not without my uncle's permission," she said. "Quite right," Stella agreed. "Don't run any risks. We shall come across one another now and then, especially since my father seems determined to throw open his doors once more to the usual mob. By the by, does he ever say anything about me?" "Nothing," Virginia answered, "except that you deceived him. He has told me that." "Any particulars?" Stella asked.