She moved at last, and Harry Rames rose and stood before her. "Well?" he asked. Cynthia dropped her hands loose at her sides and answered with a smile: "Why not?" It was in those words that she accepted him. There was no spirit in them, and very little of expectation. But she had come to expect not very much; and she had travelled a long way from the garden of her dreams. "After all, there's a turnstile in this affair, too," she said, with a note of bitterness. "A very important one too. For it leads not into a garden, but straight to the treasury bench." Harry Rames was bewildered. But he made no comment. Women were queer, and it was good to disregard their moments of excitement. Cynthia sprang up the next moment and laid her hand upon his arm. "Oh, yes, we'll follow Mr. Smale's advice, Harry," she cried, "and we'll keep our eyes on the treasury bench. Why not? Now go, and come back to-morrow." She was laughing a little wildly, and Harry Rames had the sense to take her at her word. He went out of the room, and Cynthia flung herself down upon the cushions and cried for an hour by the clock. "Well," she said to herself at the end, as she rose and dried her eyes, "Mr. Benoliel will be satisfied. That's one thing." Almost she seemed to blame Mr. Benoliel for the fact of her engagement. CHAPTER XX AT CULVER The odd thing in the affair, however, was that Mr. Benoliel did not seem satisfied. Cynthia asked him over the telephone the next day to come to her, and when he came she told him of her engagement. "But no one knows of it as yet except yourself," she added; "and no one is to know, for the present. I want it kept a secret." "Oh!" said Mr. Benoliel, looking at her curiously. "And why?" "There will be a certain amount of ill-natured talk," Cynthia returned in a confusion. "And I want the time for it to be as short as possible. It will cease after we are married." "People will say that Rames is an adventurer, who is marrying you for your money," said Mr. Benoliel bluntly, and Cynthia turned on him with spirit. "Lord Helmsdale's mother will, and other mothers would have said the same of Lord Helmsdale if I had married him." "So it's to spare the feelings of Harry Rames that you are keeping your engagement secret," said Mr. Benoliel with an ironical wonder. "I should never have suspected him of such delicate susceptibilities." "Well, I should be uncomfortable too!" cried Cynthia, bending puzzled and indignant brows at him. "I think you are quite horrid." Benoliel sustained her indignation unabashed. "Is that the only reason, Cynthia?" he asked. "You wanted me married," Cynthia continued. "You ought to be very, very pleased." Mr. Benoliel, however, was not to be lured from his question into a discussion upon the propriety of his feelings. He repeated it. "Is fear of gossip the only reason, Cynthia, which makes you keep your engagement secret?"