Miss Stuart was sitting before an easel in the large oriel, and as her aunt announced me and withdrew in her eagerness to talk to the wonderful Joe, she rose and greeted me warmly. 'Oh, Mr Russell,' she said, 'I am glad to see you. Somehow I can't paint to-day; the inspiration is wanting;' and she put her brushes in the jar and laid aside her palette.  
It was a large room lit by two windows, one facing the south, the other to the west over-looking the wooded banks of the Nith. The flush of the sunset was the sky and flooding the room with a light which and the deep black of the Indian furniture against the pale-gray walls and the deeper-gray carpet. A large fire, crowned with a halo of short blue flame, glowed in the grate, and a 'megilpy' odour, with the faint, indescribable perfume which ladies carry with them, lingered around, and reminded me of a reception afternoon in a Queen Street studio of long ago.
 
I was conscious of these details in my surroundings, although my eyes had never wandered for a moment from the sweet face of my dream-lady, and followed her greedily as she walked forward to the firelight.
 
I explained to her that my partner, Mr Monteith, was engaged with Mrs Stuart on business, and that I had taken the opportunity of having a word with her on a similar subject.
 
She smiled, wearily I thought, and seated herself. 'I don't like business talks, Mr Russell,' she said. 'Neither did father. It must be a family trait. Still, I dare say they are on us sometimes. I trust it is pleasant business you wish to talk over.'
 
'Oh yes, it is pleasant enough,' I said, and her face brightened. 'Sitting here,' I continued, after a pause, 'and seeing you in such a perfect setting, I am strongly to talk to you on a subject nearer my heart; but—well, I have already promised you to put my feelings into the background for the time being, and, hard though it may be, I will be true to my word. You remember I talked to you about your interest in the Banku Oil Company? Well, the last was paid to us, one hundred pounds of which has been in the local bank, and I have here a cheque-book which you can use from time to time as you may require.'
 
'You are very thoughtful for me, Mr Russell,' she said softly, 'and I thank you very, very much. One hundred pounds is surely a lot of money. I could do with less, you know, if'——
 
'Not at all, Miss Stuart. The money is yours; use it as you like, and just let me know when you need more. You—you don't mind asking me?'
 
'No,' she said , and as she trustfully looked me in the eyes her mouth retained the form of that little word long after it had passed her lips. She was sitting in profile against the firelit background, leaning slightly forward in her chair, her elbow on her knee and her chin resting lightly on the tips of her fingers. Her pose was so easy and , and her dear face, in its beauty of feature and earnestness of expression, so bewitching, that I could not my and . I would have given the world to be allowed to kneel down beside her, and there, in the mystic of the firelight, worship silently and at her . My steady gaze disconcerted her, and I cursed my when I saw a blush spreading over her half-averted face.
 
'Socrates has many still, Mr Russell,' she said, without any sign of displeasure in her tone; and her eyes again sought mine.
 
'Yes. How so, Miss Stuart?'
 
'He sought the truth in doing good; so do you. Since father's death, and until—well, very lately, I haven't known what it is to have a mind. I seem to have been walking among shadows, and a has always been knocking at my heart. You, by your attention and your sympathy, have lightened my burden and brought a ray of hope to me; and, do you know, Mrs Jardine's little children every evening of their sweet young lives ask God to bless you for being kind to their dear daddy.'
 
Our line of business conversation had got a twist somehow, and I didn't very well know what to say in reply, or how best, without breaking away at a tangent, I could get back to the subject I had in my mind. 'I am sorry to hear you have had your troubles, Miss Stuart,' I said after reflection; 'but I am glad to know that even to a small degree I have made your burdens . I have promised to be your friend; you'll not find me wanting, I assure you. Doubtless your affairs have worried you, but daylight is showing through now, and in a few weeks I trust everything will be settled to your satisfaction. Do you know, we have with us to-day some one who knew your father, and who was present at his marriage ceremony.'
 
'Some one who knew my father, and who was present at his marriage ceremony!' she repeated slowly, as if she couldn't at once realise what it meant.
 
'Yes!' and, as I the colour gradually leaving her cheek, it came to me in a flash that I had in mentioning the fact in conjunction with a satisfactory settlement of her affairs. Even to an mind the inference was obvious, and I felt I had blundered grievously. Her was unmistakable, and to relieve the situation I was about to make a remark, when she interrupted me.
 
'One moment, please;' and she turned her face away from me. 'This man, you say, was present when my father and mother were married, and you mention it as if it had a special significance. Does this affect me—I mean, would it make any difference to my name or prospects—my name particularly?'
 
'Oh yes, it would, Miss Stuart,' I said feelingly.
 
'Can you rely on what this man says?'
 
'Most emphatically, and we shall at once take steps to prove it.'
 
'When did you hear about this?'
 
'Quite lately.'
 
'Was it before you to me, and—and promised to be my friend?'
 
'I didn't know about it then. It was only the day before yesterday it came to my knowledge.'
 
There was silence between us for a time, and the ormolu clock on the marble mantelpiece ticked loudly.
 
Then she rose to her feet and looked toward me, smiling through tear-dimmed eyes. 'You have made me very happy, Mr Russell. I don't want t............