CHAPTER XIII. 



The necessity of a secretary who was a good accountant was 

 borne in upon Miss Badsworth the moment she saw the 

 well-kept ledgers to which Jack Morgan introduced her. 



Jack never liked making himself disagreeable, but he 

 experienced a horrible feeling of doubt whether Miss Bads- 

 worth would succeed in carrying out the requirements of 

 her brother's Will or not. He had visions of courts of law 

 and Victor Bickersdyke, and therefore no choice was left him 

 but to set the matter plainly before the lady concerned. 



Now, Miss Badsworth had always been told, by those who 

 looked to her for a lead in their various schemes for female 

 regeneration, that she was a business woman, and she really 

 had believed the fact to be true. She had kept accounts of 

 sorts and had been used to make up deficiencies ; but book- 

 keeping as a science had never been part of her education ; 

 its methodical simplicity presented all the dangers of an 

 uncharted archipelago to a mariner. Of all the female en- 

 thusiasts with whom she had been brought into contact not 

 one name suggested itself to her as reliable in the present 

 emergency. There was no scope for dreams and visions, 

 nor original ideas even, in the business in hand ; no doubt it 

 was common-place enough, but it was both startling and 

 humiliating to run over the list of enthusiasts and not find 

 one name upon which reliance could be placed. Charles Bads- 

 worth had said that his daughter Lavvy would be able to help 

 where needed. It might be so, but Miss Badsworth having 

 begun to doubt herself and " the armour in which she trusted," 

 continued and ended in doubting her brother's judgment. 



By way of clearing the ground she inserted an advertise- 

 6 8i 



