"Did she tell you anything further about her history or her
connections?" asked Stanton.

Mr. Burleigh stroked his beard and looked rather blank for a moment.

"Now I think of it," he ejaculated, "I be hanged if she said a word
about herself. And now I think further of it, she somehow or other
got Mrs. Burleigh and myself a-talking, and seemed so interested
in us and what we said, that I be hanged again if we didn't tell
her all we know about ourselves."

"She impresses every one as being remarkably frank, and yet I
think it will be found that she is peculiarly reticent in regard
to herself," remarked Van Berg musingly. "Well, it's not often I
take people on trust, but I have given this lady my entire respect
and confidence."

"I assure you that there is no trust in this business," said Mr.
Burleigh, emphatically. "I can't afford to indulge in sentiment,
gentlemen; besides, it couldn't be any more becoming in me than in
Tom Chints. I wouldn't take an unprotected, unknown female into
my house if she came with a pair of wings. But Miss Burton brings
letters that establish her character as a lady as truly as that
of any other woman in the house. I ought to have prevented this
Chints business, but then five hundred is a nice little plum, and
before I pulled my slow wits together the thing was done."

"By the way, Mr. Burleigh," remarked Stanton, "I hear that the
parties who are now at my friend Van Berg's table are soon to leave