"
She made no response by word or sign.
The ladies soon retired, and Graydon waited in vain for another
interview with Miss Wildmere. While he was looking for her on the
piazza she passed in and disappeared. He at last discovered Mr.
Arnault, who was smoking and making some memoranda, and, turning on
his heel, he strode away. "She might have said good-night, at least,"
he thought, discontentedly, "and that fellow Arnault did not look like
a man who had received his _conge."_
That this gentleman did not regard himself as out of the race was
proved by his tactics the next morning. Before reaching the city he
joined Mr. Muir in the smoking section of a parlor car, and easily
directed their talk to the peculiar condition of business. Mr. Muir
knew little in favor of his companion, and not much against him, but
devoutly hoped that he would be the winning man in the contest
for Miss Wildmere. He also knew that the firm to which Mr. Arnault
belonged had held their heads well up in the fluctuations of the
street. Both gentlemen deplored the present state of affairs, and
hoped that there might soon be more confidence. "By the way, Mr.
Muir," Mr. Arnault remarked, casually, "if you need accommodation we
have some money lying idle for a short time, which we would like
to put out as a call loan, and would be glad to place it in good
conservative hands, like yours.
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