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Rh Stevenson she knew so slightly. As this revelation of her father took slow possession of her, her defiance gradually melted into a consuming desire to please Marcus Belden. Some nights she cried herself to sleep, because it seemed so hopeless ever to win him back again.

When the long-drawn-out strain of her father's silence and apparent displeasure did snap, the break came when Ada least expected it, and she was unprepared.

It occurred on the last day of her two months' contract with Belden & Roper. She didn't suppose anybody was aware of the significance of the date. No mention had been made to her that her time at the office was up.

Least of all did she suppose that her father, occupied with so many business affairs—she knew that one of the biggest transactions of his career had been hanging fire all summer—was conscious of the fact that she had accomplished what she had set out to do.

She was sitting at the table in her father's private office, working as usual at her machine, which had been moved from her old corner, a week ago, to this blessed spot, immediately in front of an electric fan. Mr. Roper and her father had been talking business for an hour. Above the clatter of her machine, she was vaguely