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destroyed her chances of success in business? Or was it merely the not altogether unexpected slackness after the rush of buyers for the race meetings? Time alone would prove that. At any rate, she would not anticipate defeat, and so she and Mrs. Hill worked hard all the afternoon, and ignored the dearth of purchasers.

Her assistant had heard nothing of the impending divorce case, of that Ann felt convinced. And it was a relief to her to know that there was one friend at least who could still eye her without suspicion. “Friend” was a word she had grown accustomed to using now in thinking of Mrs. Hill, her loyal and hard-working co-adjutor. And she wondered, with a little sinking at her heart, if Mrs. Hill would remain so attached to her, and to her interests, if once the seeds of distrust as to her employer’s character were sown in her honest heart. Frailty in members of their own sex seemed to be the unforgivable sin in most women’s eyes. But perhaps Mrs. Hill might give her the benefit of the doubt. After all Mr. Ford hadn’t believed the story. But then he’d known Dick Holmes for years, and wouldn’t be likely to listen to any discreditable rumor concerning him. That made a difference.

Well, Ann could only hope for the best. Surely every one wouldn’t take the same view as Mrs. Pratt! Rodney, she knew, did not doubt the truth of what she had told him, but he was insanely jealous, and resented the mere fact of Holmes’s affectionate regard for her. How could that bitter jealousy exist in his heart when he was still so determined not to ask her to be his wife? That was a problem she could not solve. It was part and parcel of the young drover’s