"'Ah, Lamont,' he exclaimed, 'I am very glad to see you, though you have given me a deuce of a long wait.'
"Turning quickly, I beheld, to my utter dismay, the gentleman from New York to whom I owed that large sum of money I told you about.
"'I was here in time to take in the ball last night,' he went on. 'I came on particularly to see you. You were having such a good time dancing, with that pretty little creature in white that I did not disturb you by letting you know of my presence; but after the ball you suddenly disappeared, and I have been waiting in this office for you, expecting you to appear every moment. I could not wait a moment longer than was absolutely necessary, my business with you is so imperative.'
"To make a long story short, Mrs. Gardiner—Sally—he informed me that he should be obliged to draw upon me at once for money I owed him; in fact, that he must have it to-day."
"Oh, what will you do, Mr. Lamont?" cried Sally, sympathetically. "What in the world will you do—what will you say?"
"That is just the trouble—what shall I do—what can I say to him? He is a man of iron will and terrible temper. He knows, he has learned through my bankers in New York, that I drew out every cent I had in their bank to pay him. How am I to face him, and tell him that it is gone? I know full well he will have me arrested, and the coachman will be brought forward who drove me up to the door, and then the whole story will leak out."
"Oh! oh! oh!" cried Sally, standing quite still on the sands, wringing her hands and commencing to cry, "if that story comes out, I am ruined. Jay Gardiner will leave me, and I will be a beggar!"
"Just so," returned Victor Lamont, softly. "We must make every effort to keep the matter quiet, and there is but one way out of the tangle—only one."
"And what is that?" cried Sally.
"You must save me, and in doing so, save yourself. Sally—Mrs. Gardiner," he whispered, rapidly, "you must help me raise money somehow to meet this man's demands."