“Oh, no; that is the very thing I mustn’t do.  That would spoil the whole thing.  Mr. Covington knows of a stock which I could buy which will double within two months, and father will be delighted when he sees how cleverly I have invested the money.”

“But you can’t do anything with that money without your father’s permission.”

“Yes, I can; Mr. Covington has looked it all up.  I have full control over it now that I am eighteen.  All I have to do is to sign a paper which he will bring me, and he will do the rest.”

Mrs. Gorham was thoughtful for some moments.  “Mr. Covington would certainly take no chances with the girl’s money,” she mused.  “I wonder what Robert would think of it.”  Then aloud, “Did he tell you what the stock was?”

“Yes; but you mustn’t breathe it.  You don’t think I’m betraying a confidence, do you?  He was so emphatic about my thinking it over by myself; but he couldn’t have meant not to tell you, dear.  It is some stock in a street railway here in New York which he thinks he can get hold of.  Wouldn’t it be fine to double my money!  But I must promise not to tell daddy how I did it—­just surprise him with it.”

“I don’t know what to advise you, Alice,” Eleanor said, doubtfully.

“It must be all right, for Mr. Covington knows,” the girl insisted; “that’s why daddy has him come to teach me.  But I shall think it over very carefully, as he asked me to.”  Alice threw her arms impulsively around Eleanor’s neck and kissed her, laughing happily.  “We business people have to consider these problems very deeply,” she said, dropping her voice.  “I will tell you in the morning what I decide.”

A heavy step upon the gravel walk announced Gorham’s arrival.  Greeting them affectionately, he placed one arm about the waist of each and turned from one to the other, looking silently into their faces.  “My inspirations,” he exclaimed, smiling; and as Eleanor glanced triumphantly at Alice, the girl realized the force of the words the elder woman had spoken in an earlier conversation.  Here—­in them—­rested that power which stimulated the execution of affairs of which the whole world talked!

“I have news for you,” Gorham said, turning to Alice.  “Mr. Allen Sanford, late chauffeur, is now the right arm of the Consolidated Companies.”

“Do you really mean it!” she cried, transferring her caresses to her father.  “Have you actually given him a chance?  Oh, I’m so happy about it!”

“I really mean it,” Gorham replied, laughingly, amused by the girl’s enthusiasm; “and by doing so, I presume I have incurred the eternal enmity of one Stephen Sanford.”

“How did it happen, Robert?” Eleanor inquired, hardly less pleased than Alice.

“The boy has some promising stuff in him,” was the reply.  “He has more to get over than most youngsters have; but his very impulsiveness, properly controlled, may prove an asset.  The young rascal almost sold me a set of the Home Travellers’ Volumes, and with all his amateurishness he showed a good deal of skill, and an unlimited amount of imagination.  I’ve wanted to give him a chance ever since Stephen threw him over, and now I’m going to do it.”