“Well, I suppose the next thing is to spend it.”

“Excuse me.  The next thing is to get it.  It is a mere detail, I know; but I should like to settle it before we go any further.”

“But how can I tell you that?  You forget that I am quite unacquainted with your affairs.  You are a man, and understand business, which of course I dont.”

“If you wanted five hundred pounds, Miss Lind, how would you set about getting it?—­if I may ask.”

“What?  I!  But, as I say, I am only a woman.  I should ask my father for it, or sign a receipt for my trustees, or something of that sort.”

“That is a very simple plan.  But unfortunately I have no father and no trustees.  Worse than that, I have no money.  You must suggest some other way.”

“Do what everybody else does in your circumstances.  Borrow it.  I am sure Lord Carbury would lend it to you.”

Conolly shook his head.  “It doesnt do for a man in my position to start borrowing the moment he makes the acquaintance of a man in Lord Carbury’s,” he said.  “We are working a little together already on one of my ideas, and that is as far as I care to ask him to go.  I am afraid I must ask you for another suggestion.”

“Save up all your money until you have enough.”

“That would take some time.  Let me see.  As I am an exceptionally fortunate and specially skilled workman, I can now calculate on making from seventy shillings to six pounds a week.  Say four pounds on the average.”

“Ah,” said Marian, despondingly, “you would have to wait more than two years to save five hundred pounds.”

“And to dispense with food, clothes, and lodging in the meantime.”

“True,” said Marian.  “Of course, I see that it is impossible for you to save anything.  And yet it seems absurd to be stopped by the want of such a sum.  I have a cousin who has no money at all, and no experiments to make, and he paid a thousand pounds for a race-horse last spring.”

Conolly nodded, to intimate that he knew that such things happened.

Marian could think of no further expedient.  She stood still, thinking, whilst Conolly took up a bit of waste and polished a brass cylinder.

“Mr. Conolly,” she said at last, “I cannot absolutely promise you; but I think I can get you five hundred pounds.”  Conolly stopped polishing the cylinder, and stared at her.  “If I have not enough, I am sure we could make the rest by a bazaar or something.  I should like to begin to invest my money; and if you make some great invention, like the telegraph or steam engine, you will be able to pay it back to me, and to lend me money when I want it.”

Conolly blushed.  “Thank you, Miss Lind,” said he, “thank you very much indeed.  I—­It would be ungrateful of me to refuse; but I am not so ready to begin my experiments as my talking might lead you to suppose.  My estimate of their cost was a mere guess.  I am not satisfied that it is not want of time and perseverance more than of money that is the real obstacle.  However, I will—­I will—­a——­Have you any idea of the value of money, Miss Lind?  Have you ever had the handling of it?”