She looked around for her father, but he, nervous and apprehensive, had disappeared.  He felt that if he should be compelled to disclose the failure of his predictions, she would pass into one of her sullen, unmanageable moods.  He feared that things were beyond his control, and decided to let the young men manage for themselves.  He was not, however, exceedingly solicitous.  He hoped that Arnault, aided by the influence of his munificent offer, would have the skill to push his suit to a prompt conclusion; but he believed that, if this suitor should be dismissed, Graydon would not fail his daughter, and that all might yet end well for her, and perhaps for himself.

The supper-room was again occupied by the late comers, many of whom were accompanied by their families and friends.  Mr. Muir’s quiet eyes fairly beamed over the group gathered at his table, and he felt that but few moments of his life compared with those now passing.  Twenty four hours before he had seen himself drifting helplessly on a lee shore, but a little hand had taken the helm when he had been paralyzed, and now he saw clear sea-room stretching away indefinitely, with a turning tide and favoring gales.  The terrible evils threatening him and his had been averted.  The results of his lifework would not be swept away, his idolized commercial standing could now be maintained, his wife’s brow remain unclouded by care, his children be amply provided for, Graydon saved from a worse fate than financial disaster, and, last but not least, the young fellow would be cured by Madge of all future tendencies toward the Wildmere type.  He never could think of this hope without smiling to himself.  He had at last obtained the explanation of Madge’s effort and success.  By the superb result he measured the strength of the love which had led to it.  “Great Scott!”—­his favorite expletive—­he had thought; “what a compass there is in her nature!  I had long suspected her secret, but when I touched upon it last night she made my blood tingle by her magnificent resentment.  I would sooner have trifled with an enraged empress.  Look at her now, smiling, serene, and, although not in the least artful, keeping all her secrets with consummate art.  Who would imagine that she was capable of such a volcanic outburst?  If Graydon does not lay siege to her now, the name of the future firm should be Henry Muir and idiot.”

That sagacious young man did not appear at all blighted by the wreck of the hope he had cherished.  He turned no wistful glances toward the girl who had so long satisfied his eyes, and, as he had believed, his heart.  He felt much the same as if he had been imposed upon by a cunning disguise.  Unknown to her, he had caught a glimpse of what the mask concealed, and his soul was shuddering at the deformities to which he had so nearly allied himself.  Her very beauty, with its false promise, had become hateful to him.

“She is indeed a speculator,” he thought, “and I’m a little curious to see how she will continue her game.”  It afforded him vindictive amusement that she often, yet furtively, turned her eyes toward him as if he were still a factor in it.