"What!" he shouted, in a voice which penetrated to kitchen regions, and made Mrs. Stirring palpitate.
Dorothea was rather alarmed. "Yes, father?" she said inquiringly.
"What!" repeated the Colonel as loudly as before; and he held up before his daughter's astonished eyes a cheque for one thousand pounds.
"Oh!" she exclaimed.
The Colonel sat and stared—first at the cheque, then at the overjoyed Dorothea.
"Erskine!" he uttered at length.
"There is a letter! Won't you read it?" begged Dorothea. "Do see what he says."
Colonel Tracy obeyed the suggestion. His face had regained its usual colouring, and his eyes stared still in blank bewilderment. He read the letter solemnly through, once, twice, thrice, without a word, though not without some suspicious twitches about his nose and mouth.
Did he mean to read it a fourth time? Dorothea could not stand that.
"Do tell me! What does it mean? What does Colonel Erskine say?"