“Come on, sir, an’ we’ll settle,” put in the auctioneer, taking Mr. Smith by the arm, as if he feared he might be planning an escape. But Mr. Smith appeared entirely ready, even anxious, to settle. In the privacy of the kitchen he counted off from a sizable roll four thousand dollars in bills of large denominations, repeating in a painstaking manner what he had already told the women. “Yes, sir; the young woman’s wanted to look after a child.” “Whereabouts?” inquired the auctioneer. “W’y, I don’t rightly know,” wheezed Mr. Smith. “M’ asthma’s terrible bad this morning.” “So I see! so I see,” observed Mr. Bellows, rubbing his chin dubiously. “An’ you can’t tell me——” “The young woman is to stay right here till she’s called for,” repeated the gentleman in checks. “No, sir; I couldn’t say when that ’ll be. She must be ready to start most any day. But she’s to stay right here till called for. You tell her. Yes, sir. I’ve got references. Everythin’ O.K. Tell her that, will you? An’, say, you’ll pass the money right over to her, will you? To-day; yes.” “Less fi’ per cent,” said Mr. Bellows unctuously. “Pretty good mornin’s work,” he added, rubbing his hands. “I never thought o’ such a thing’s runnin’ her up to such a figure. An’ you’d ’a’ bid more, I take it, if you’d had to? As ’twas, you was kind of reckless towards the last.” “Mebbe I did go a little higher’n I needed to,” acknowledged Mr. Smith mildly. “But I thought I might as well.” He coughed and blinked weakly. “It didn’t make no difference to me,” he said. “I wuz prepared to secure the services of the young woman at any figure. Yes, sir.” XII “I CONGRATULATE ye, ma’am, on the success o’ your idee,” Thomas Bellows said, when an hour later he handed to Barbara the roll of bills from which he had complacently peeled off his own tidy commission. “This ’ere ’ll pay off the lien on your prop’ty, I take it, an’ leave you a pretty good nest-egg besides.” “Who,” said Barbara, her face pale and troubled, “bought—me?” “W’y, as t’ that,” confessed the auctioneer, “I can’t tell you exactly. I was asked to hand you this ’ere letter. It contains further perticklers, I persoom.” He produced a thick square envelope bearing her name and address in type-written characters. “You was to stay right here on call, I was asked t’ inform you. No, ma’am; it wa’n’t any o’ them folks that wrote t’ you beforehand. A man, name of Smith; said he was the agent of the party as bid you in. You’re to stay right here till called for.” Barbara had opened the envelope and was scanning the few lines of type-writing in the middle of the large square sheet.