She's too proud."
"But Stanley Ryder!" protested Montague. "The president of the
Gotham Trust Company!"
"That's all right," said Oliver. "It's his own note, and not the
Trust Company's; and I'll wager you he's hard up for cash. There was
a big realty company that failed the other day, and I saw that Ryder
was one of the stockholders. And he's been hit by that Mississippi
Steel slump, and I'll wager you he's scurrying around to raise
money. It's just like Lucy, too. Before he gets through, he'll take
every dollar she owns."
Montague said nothing for a minute or two. Suddenly he clenched his
hands. "I must go up and see her," he said.
Lucy had moved from the expensive hotel to which Oliver had taken
her, and rented an apartment on Riverside Drive. Montague went up
early the next morning.
She came and stood in the doorway of the drawing-room and looked at
him. He saw that she was paler than she had been, and with lines of
pain upon her face.
"Allan!" she said. "I thought you would come some day. How could you
stay away so long?"
"I didn't think you would care to see me," he said.
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