The Governors | Page 3

really no servants, and we do everything
ourselves. I couldn't attempt to manage a house like this."
He smiled at her kindly.
"Perhaps," he said, "you would find it less difficult than you think.
There is a housekeeper already, who sees to all the practical part of it.
She only needs to have some one to whom she can refer now and then.
You would have nothing whatever to do with the managing of the
servants, the commissariat, or anything of that sort. Yours would be
purely social duties."
"I am afraid," she answered, "that I should know even less about them."
"Well," he said, "I have some good friends who will give you hints.
You will find it very much easier than you imagine. You have only to
be natural, acquire the art of listening, and wear pretty gowns, and you
will find it a simple matter to become quite a popular person."
She nerved herself to ask him a question. He looked so kind and
good-natured that it did not seem possible that he would resent it.
"Uncle," she said, "of course I am very glad to be here, and it all sounds
very delightful. But what about--Stella?"
He leaned back in his chair. There was a pained look in his face. She
was almost sorry that she had mentioned his daughter's name.
"Perhaps," he said, "it is as well that you should have asked me that
question. I have always been an indulgent father, as I think you will

find me an indulgent uncle. But there are certain things, certain
offences I might say, for which I have no forgiveness. Stella deceived
me. She made use of information, secret information which she
acquired in this room, to benefit some man in whom she was interested.
She used my secrets to enrich this person. She did this after I had
warned her. I never warn twice."
"You mean that you sent her away?" she asked timidly.
"I mean that my doors are closed to her," he answered gravely, "as they
would be closed upon you if you behaved as Stella has behaved. But,
my dear child," he added, smiling kindly at her, "I do not expect this
from you. I feel sure that what I have said will be sufficient. If you will
stay with me a little time, and take my daughter's place, I think you will
not find me very stern or very ungrateful. Now I am going to ring for
Mrs. Perrin, my housekeeper, and she will show you your room.
To-night you and I are going to dine quite alone, and we can talk again
then. By the by, do you really mean that you have never been to New
York before?"
"Never!" she answered. "I have been to Boston twice, never anywhere
else."
He smiled.
"Well," he said, "the sooner you are introduced to some of its wonders,
the better. We will dine out to-night, and I will take you to one of the
famous restaurants. It will suit me better to be somewhere out of the
way for an hour or two this evening. There is a panic in Chicago and
Illinois--but there, you wouldn't understand that. Be ready at 8 o'clock."
"But uncle--" she began.
He waved his hand.
"I know what you are going to say--clothes. You will find some
evening dresses in your room. I have had a collection of things sent
round on approval, and you will probably be able to find one you can

wear. Ah! here is Mrs. Perrin."
The door had opened, and a middle-aged lady in a stiff black silk gown
had entered the room.
"Mrs. Perrin," he said, "this is my niece. She comes from the country.
She knows nothing. Tell her everything that she ought to know. Help
her with her clothes, and turn her out as well as you can to dine with
me at Sherry's at eight o'clock."
A bell rang at his elbow, and one of the telephones began to tinkle. He
picked up the receiver and waved them out of the room. Virginia
followed her guide upstairs, feeling more and more with every step she
took that she was indeed a wanderer in some new and enchanted land
of the Arabian Nights.

CHAPTER II
COUSIN STELLA
"Well," he said, smiling kindly at her over the bank of flowers which
occupied the centre of the small round table at which they were dining,
"what do you think of it all?"
Virginia shook her head.
"I cannot tell you," she said. "I haven't any words left. It is all so
wonderful. You have never been to our home at Wellham Springs, or
else you would understand."
He smiled.
"I think I can understand," he said, "what it is like. I, too,