"I don't mind telling you in strict confidence, there _was_ talk of marriage, and his people, all but the sister, encouraged it. Then after she was engaged to Shepler they talked him out of it. Now that's the whole God's truth, if it does you any good." "If you had married him you'd 'a' had a position, like they say here, right away." "Oh, dear, yes! awfully swagger people--dead swell, every one of them. There's no doubt about that." "Exactly; and there ain't really any reason why you can't be somebody here." "Well, between you and I, Mr. Bines, I can play the part as well as a whole lot of these women here. I don't want to talk, of course, but--well!" "Exactly, you can give half of 'em cards and spades and both casinos, Mrs. Wybert." "And I'll do it yet. I'm not through by any means. They're not the only perfectly elegant people in this town!" "Of course you'll do it, and you could do it better if you had three or four times the stake you got." "Dollars are worth more apiece in New York than any town I've ever been in." "Mrs. Wybert, I can put you right square into a good thing, and I'm going to do it. Heard anything about Consolidated Copper?" "I've heard something big was doing in it; but nobody seems to know for certain. My broker is afraid of it." "Very well. Now you do as I tell you, and you can clean up a big lot inside of the next two months. If you do as I tell you, mind, no matter _what_ you hear, and if you don't talk." Mrs. Wybert meditated. "Mr. Bines, I'm--it's natural that I'm a little uneasy. Why should you want to see me do well, after our little affair? Now, out with it! What are you trying to do with me? What do you expect me to do for you? Get down to cases yourself, Mr. Bines!" "I will, ma'am, in a few words. My granddaughter, you may have heard, is engaged to an Englishman. He's next thing to broke, but he's got a title coming. Naturally he's looking fur money. Naturally he don't care fur the girl. But I'm afraid she's infatuated with him. Now then, if he had a chance at some one with more money than she's got, why, naturally he'd jump at it." "Aren't you a little bit wild?" "Not a little bit. He saw you at Newport last summer, and he's seen you here. He was tearing the adjectives up telling me about you the other night, not knowing, you understand, that I'd ever heard tell of you before. You could marry him in a jiffy if you follow my directions." "But your granddaughter has a fortune." "You'll have as much if you play this the way I tell you. And--you never can tell in these times--she might lose a good bit of hers." "It's very peculiar, Mr. Bines--your proposition." [Illustration: "'_WHY, YOU'D BE LADY CASSELTHORPE, WITH DUKES AND COUNTS TAKIN' OFF THEIR CROWNS TO YOU_.'"]