I give you about
three months."
"I don't know why you should say this," Virginia answered. "I find my
uncle very easy to get on with so long as he is obeyed."
Stella smiled.
"Ah, well!" she said, "I don't want to dishearten you, only you seem
rather a nice little thing, and I am afraid you don't quite understand
the sort of man my father is. However, you'll find out, and until you do
I should have as good a time as I could if I were you. How do you like
New York?"
"How could I help liking it?" Virginia answered. "I came here from a
little wooden farmhouse in a desolate part of the country. I did not
know what luxury was. Here I have a maid, a suite of rooms, an
automobile, and all manner of wonderful things, all of my own."
"Will you be willing," Stella asked calmly, "to pay the price when the
time comes?"
Virginia looked at her wonderingly.
"The price?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
Stella laughed a little hardly.
"Little girl," she said, "you are very young. Let me tell you this. My
father never did a kind action in his life for its own sake. He never
befriended any one for any other motive than that some day or other he
meant to exact some return for it.
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