The Governors | Page 7

he is Phineas Duge," Mrs. Harrison said drily. "But there, my
dear child, I mustn't say a word against your uncle. He has been nice
enough to me because I have promised to look after you. Does he want
me to marry you, I wonder? I don't think that it would be very
difficult."
Virginia blushed, and moved uneasily in her chair.
"Please don't," she begged. "I do not wish to think of anything of the
sort. My uncle says that presently I am to help him."
"To help him," Mrs. Trevor Harrison repeated thoughtfully.

Virginia nodded.
"Yes! I don't exactly know how, but that is what he said."
Her chaperon looked thoughtful for a moment. So there was a motive
somewhere, then! But, after all, what concern was it of hers? She was
an old friend of the Duge family, and Phineas Duge had made it very
well worth her while to look after his niece.
They were interrupted by some callers. It was an informal "At Home"
which Mrs. Harrison was giving in honour of her young charge. Soon
the rooms were crowded with people, and Virginia, slim, elegant,
perfectly gowned, looking like a picture, with her pale oval face and
wonderful dark grey eyes, was the centre of a good deal of attention.
And in the midst of it all a girl, whom as yet she had not noticed,
touched her on the arm and drew her a little away. She started with
surprise when she saw that it was Stella.
"Come, my dear cousin," Stella said, "I want to have a little talk with
you. Won't you sit down with me here? I am sure you have been doing
your duty admirably."
Virginia was a little shy. She was not quite sure whether she ought to
talk to her cousin. Nevertheless, she obeyed the stronger personality.
"Of course I know," Stella said, spreading herself out on a sofa, and
smiling in amusement at the other's slight embarrassment, "that I am in
disgrace with my beloved parent, and that you are half afraid to talk to
me. Still, you must remember that you owe me a little consideration,
for you have taken my place, and turned me out into the cold world."
"You must not talk like that, please," Virginia said quietly. "You know
very well that I have done nothing of the sort. When my uncle sent for
me, I had no idea that you were not still living with him."
"I lived with him for three years," Stella said, "after I had come back
from Europe. I call that a very wonderful record. I give you about three
months."

"I don't know why you should say this," Virginia answered. "I find my
uncle very easy to get on with so long as he is obeyed."
Stella smiled.
"Ah, well!" she said, "I don't want to dishearten you, only you seem
rather a nice little thing, and I am afraid you don't quite understand the
sort of man my father is. However, you'll find out, and until you do I
should have as good a time as I could if I were you. How do you like
New York?"
"How could I help liking it?" Virginia answered. "I came here from a
little wooden farmhouse in a desolate part of the country. I did not
know what luxury was. Here I have a maid, a suite of rooms, an
automobile, and all manner of wonderful things, all of my own."
"Will you be willing," Stella asked calmly, "to pay the price when the
time comes?"
Virginia looked at her wonderingly.
"The price?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
Stella laughed a little hardly.
"Little girl," she said, "you are very young. Let me tell you this. My
father never did a kind action in his life for its own sake. He never
befriended any one for any other motive than that some day or other he
meant to exact some return for it. Your time hasn't come yet, but there
will be something some day which will help you to understand."
Virginia sat upright in her seat. A very becoming touch of colour had
stolen into her cheeks, and her eyes were bright.
"I like to talk to you, Stella," she said, "because you are my cousin, and
none of these other people are even my friends yet, but I cannot listen
to you if you talk like this of the man who has been so kind to me,
especially," she added, "as he is your father and my uncle."

Stella leaned over and patted her hand patronizingly.
"Silly little girl!" she said. "Never mind, we shall be friends some day, I
dare say. You daren't come and see me, I suppose?"
Virginia shook her head.
"Not without my