One moment, sir"-- as Mr.Clendon opened his lips--"this must seem rather extraordinary to you, but I am sure that she would be glad to see me." Mr.Clendon's eyes seemed to pierce Derrick through and through; then, removing his gaze, as if he were satisfied, Mr.Clendon said: "The name of the young lady is Grant--Celia Grant; she is not now living in the Buildings." Derrick's eyes dropped, and he drew a long breath; his disappointment was so obvious that Mr.Clendon said: "Is your business with Miss Grant one of importance, may I ask ?" "The greatest importance--to me," said Derrick, who felt somehow inspired to confidence; there was something in this old man's manner and attitude, in the low, rhythmic voice, that harmonized with Derrick's mood and influenced him in a fashion strange and puzzling.
"I am afraid I can't tell you the whole--well, you may call it 'story'; but I may say that I am deeply indebted to Miss Grant, and that I am very desirous of paying that debt--no; I can't do that!--but of seeing her and telling her that her kindness, her goodness, to me were not thrown away." "An amiable sentiment," said Mr.Clendon, with dignified simplicity.

"No doubt, Miss Grant would be glad to hear it from your lips; but she is not here, she has gone." "I am sorry, sir," said Derrick, rising, and the genuineness of his assertion was attested by the deep sigh which accompanied it.

"I don't like to ask you----" he hesitated--"but you would be rendering me a very great service, greater than you can imagine, if you would, if you could, tell me where to find her." There was a silence.

Mr.Clendon sat perfectly immovable; but his eyes were searching Derrick's face, and the young man stood meeting the gaze honestly, candidly, unshrinkingly.
"I do not know whether I should be doing right in giving you Miss Grant's address," said Mr.Clendon at last.

"But I will admit that I am tempted to do so." "If you would----" began Derrick; but Mr.Clendon stopped him with an upraised hand.
"You say that you are a friend of Miss Grant's--I seem to remember you, though I have only seen you at a distance, and then indistinctly.