‘Now tell me, my dear, have you been happy in this—­this place?’ he inquired significantly, as the cab rumbled over the rough causeway of the Wynd into Colquhoun Street.

’Yes, I have been happy.  I only know now, when I think it may not be my shelter very long.’

Mr. Fordyce looked at her keenly.

‘Poor girl, she knows nothing, absolutely nothing,’ he said to himself.  ‘What a revelation it will be to her!  Yes, it’s a thrilling romance.’

The greeting between the well-known lawyer and his strange client was not ceremonious.  It consisted of a couple of nods and a brief good-morning.  Then Gladys was requested to leave them alone.  Nothing loath, she ran up-stairs to Walter, whose sorrow lay heavy on her heart.

‘Your niece has surprised me, Mr. Graham,’ said the lawyer.  ’Yes, very much indeed.’

‘Why?  What did you expect to see?  Eh?’

‘Not a refined and lovely young woman in a place like this, certainly,’ he said frankly, and looking round with an expression of extreme disgust.  ’Has it never occurred to you what poor preparation Miss Graham has had for the position you intend her to fill?’

‘That’s none of your business,’ retorted the old man sharply. ’She doesn’t need any preparation, I tell you.  Cottage or palace are the same to her; she’ll be a queen in either.’

This strange speech made the lawyer look at the old man intently.  He perceived that underneath his brusque, forbidding exterior there burned the steady light of a great love for his brother’s child, and here, surely, was the greatest marvel of all.

‘I did not bring you here to make remarks on my niece,’ he said peevishly.  ’Read that over, see, and tell me if it’s all right, if there’s anything to be added or taken away.  There’s a clause I want added about the boy, Walter Hepburn.  He’s been with me a long time, and though he’s a very firebrand, he’s faithful and honest.  He won’t rue it.’

Mr. Fordyce adjusted his eyeglass and spread out the will before him.  Up-stairs the two young beings, drawn close together by a common sorrow and a common need, tried to look into the future with hopeful eyes, not knowing that, in the room below, that very future was being assured for them in a way they knew not.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XIII.

THE LAST SUMMONS.

‘You’ll look after her, Mr. Fordyce, promise me that?’ said the old man when they had gone over the contents of the will.

‘Why, yes, I will, so far as I can,’ answered the lawyer, without hesitation.  ‘She will not lack friends, you may rest assured.  This,’ he added, tapping the blue paper, ’will ensure her more friends than she may need.’

’Ay, it’s from such I want you to guard her.  I know how many sharks there are who would regard an unprotected girl like her as their lawful prey.  She’ll marry some day, I hope, and wisely.  But it is in the interval she needs looking after.’