Shirley entered upon her new duties in the Ryder household two days later.

She had returned to her rooms the evening of her meeting with the financier in a state bordering upon hysteria.

The day's events had been so extraordinary that it seemed to her they could not be real, and that she must be in a dream.

The car ride to Seventy-fourth Street, the interview in the library, the discovery of her father's letters, the offer to write the biography, and, what to her was still more important, the invitation to go and live in the Ryder home--all these incidents were so remarkable and unusual that it was only with difficulty that the girl persuaded herself that they were not figments of a disordered brain.
But it was all true enough.

The next morning's mail brought a letter from Mrs.Ryder, who wrote to the effect that Mr.Ryder would like the work to begin at once, and adding that a suite of rooms would be ready for her the following afternoon.