the entrance to the British Museum. A young lady came up. "It is very
imprudent of you, Harry," she said, after the first greeting, "to ask me
to meet you."

"I could not help it, dear; it was absolutely necessary that I should see
you."

"But it is of no use, Harry."

"I consider that it is of particular use, Hilda."

"But you know, Harry, when you had that very unpleasant talk with my
father, I was called in, and said that I had promised to wait two years
for you. When he found that I would not give way, he promised that he
would not press me, on the understanding that we were not to meet again
except in public, and I all but promised."

"Quite so, dear; but it appears to me that this is surely a public place."

"No, no, Harry; what he meant was that I was not to meet you except at
parties."

"Well, I should have asked you to meet me to-day even if I had had to
storm your father's house to see you. I am going away, dear, and he could
scarcely say much if he came along and found us talking here. You see, it
was not likely that I should stumble across a fortune in the streets of
London. I have talked the matter over with Barnett--you know our trustee,
you have met him once or twice--and we came to the conclusion that the
only possible chance of my being able to satisfy your father as to my
means, was for me to go to Peru and try to discover a gold mine there or