"You see, little pal, I'm your guardian."
"Are you?"
"Yes, and I'm giving you due legal notice that you have no right to marry without my consent—you promise to make me your confidant?"
A soft laugh full of tenderness and joy came from the girl as she turned her eyes upward for the first time:
"All right, guardie, I'll confer with you on that occasion."
CHAPTER III
A STRAIGHT TIP
Nan received the announcement of Bivens's failure to settle Woodman's suit with a grim resolution to win now, at all hazards. The sensational reports of Stuart's action against the big financiers had given her quick mind the cue to a new line of stratagem. She began cautiously.
"You are not going to give up a thing I've set my heart on merely because old Woodman's a fool, are you?" she asked her husband, with a touch of scorn. "Jim Stuart is the best friend you ever had. He has become one of the most famous men in America. He would lend distinction to our house. I want him at our next entertainment."