She promised, and Blair left her very soberly. The matter of the money was comparatively unimportant; it was his, subject only to the formality of its transfer to the estate. But that David Richie should have been connected even indirectly with his personal affairs was exquisitely offensive to him--and Elizabeth knew about it! "She's probably sitting there by the window, looking like that robin, and thinking about him," he said to himself angrily, as he hurried back to the River House. There seemed to be no escape from David Richie. "I feel like a dog with a dead hen hanging round his neck," he said to himself, in grimly humorous disgust; "I can't get away from him!" He found his wife in their parlor at the hotel, but she was not in that listless attitude that he had grown to expect,--huddled in a chair, her chin in her hand, her eyes watching the slow roll of the river. Instead she was alert. "Blair!" she said, almost before he had closed the door behind him; "I have something to tell you." "I know about it," he said, gravely; "I have seen Nannie." Elizabeth looked at him in silence. "Would you have supposed that Nannie, _Nannie_, of all people! would have had the courage to do such a thing?" he said, nervously; it occurred to him that if he could keep the conversation on Nannie's act, perhaps that--that name could be avoided. "Think of the mere courage of it, to say nothing of its criminality." "She didn't know she was doing wrong." "No; of course not. But it's a mighty unpleasant matter." "Uncle says it can be arranged so that her name needn't come into it." "Of course," he agreed. Elizabeth did not speak, but the look in her eyes was a demand. "It's going to be rather tough for us, to wait until she hands it over to me," Blair said. "To _you_?" The moment had come! He came and knelt beside her, and kissed her; she did not repulse him. She continued to look at him steadily. Then very gently, she said, "And when Nannie gives it to you, what will you do with it?" Blair drew in his breath as if bracing himself for a struggle. Then he got on his feet, pulled up one of the big, plush-covered arm-chairs, took out his cigarette-case, and struck a match. His hand shook. "Do with it? Why, invest it. I am going into business, Elizabeth. I decided to this morning. If you would care to know why I have given up the idea of contesting the will, I'll tell you. I don't want to bore you," he ended, wistfully. Apparently she did not hear him. "Did Nannie tell you that that money was meant for a hospital?" Blair sat up straight, and the match, burning slowly, scorched his fingers. He threw it down with an exclamation; his face was red with his effort to speak quietly. "She told me of your uncle's misunderstanding of the situation. There is no possible doubt that my mother meant the money for me. If I thought otherwise--" "If you will talk to Uncle Robert, you will think otherwise."