Granthope scowled. "Never mind about her. She’s a great help to me here, and I like her—that’s enough for you. You didn’t come here to talk about Fancy Gray." "I should think your ladies would object, though," the medium pursued. "It looks kind of funny, don’t it? She stays here pretty late, it seems to me, if any one was to notice it. Some ladies don’t like that sort of thing; they get jealous. Fancy’s too pretty by half!" "That’ll be about all about Fancy Gray. Suppose we change the subject." "Very good then; we’ll change it to another girl that’s as pretty. How would Miss Payson do to talk about?" "What about her?" "A whole lot about her. How are you getting along with her, for the first thing?" Granthope smiled with an air of satisfaction, but contented himself with remarking, "Oh, I’m getting on all right. I can attend to my own end of the game, thank you. I’ve handled women before." "More ways than one, eh?" "She’s not that kind. Don’t you believe it!" "Then what, for the Lord’s sake, are you doing with her!" Madam Spoll gave her words a playful accent that he resented. Then she added, more seriously: "Frank, d’you know, I believe you could marry that girl. If you have changed yourself enough to like that kind, you might go farther and fare worse. She’d give you a good stand-in with the Western Addition, too. And we might help you out a bit; who knows! I can see all sorts of things in it, just as it stands." "I haven’t begun to think of anything like that," he replied carelessly. "Of course not. I know well enough what you was thinking of. But you take my advice and don’t spoil a big thing for a little one. Work her easy and you can land her. That’s better a good sight than playing with her in your usual way." He rose and walked to the window and looked out, vaguely annoyed. He turned, in a moment, to ask, "Has the old man made a will?" "D’you mean to say you ain’t found that out yet? Lord, Frank, you _are_ getting slow. I don’t know. I ain’t come to that yet. But if he ain’t, I’ll see that he does make one, and that’s where I can look out for your interests." There was a slight sneer on his face. "Oh, don’t trouble yourself. I’ve my own system, you know. I haven’t made many breaks yet. It’s likely that I can help you more than you can me. That reminds me; you might take these notes. It’s about all I have got from the girl so far. They may come in handy." He went to his desk, took a couple of cards from a tin box in the top drawer, and handed them to Madam Spoll. She looked them over interestedly.