"You promise to take her in—to give her a home in your house?"
Cragg had carefully avoided giving that pledge exactly, and he hesitated, not from personal reluctance, but from a fear of what Mrs. Cragg might say.
"A home in your house," repeated the other faintly; and the craving gaze overmastered his doubts.
"She shall live with us as long as she wishes to do so."
Dale's face worked.
"Thank you—thank you," was murmured. "I may be sure—I may rely on your word?"
"I promise," repeated Cragg.
"I thought—I was sure—you would not refuse a dying man's wish."
"You say Pattie has twenty pounds a year. But you have had more than that?"
"Yes. The rest ceases with my life. I mean—it goes elsewhere. I had— only a life-interest."