“Well, well! That’s a thought that had never entered my mind,” said the lawyer, more to himself than to Nancy.
“You see how it is, sir. I thought there might be an estate, maybe. I thought maybe that, as so much money was being spent for me—I might be of some importance somewhere——”
“Ha!” exclaimed the lawyer, still staring at her.
“But now you say there’s nobody—and nothing. Just money comes—comes out of the air for me. And you pass it on. Oh, dear me! it’s very mysterious, sir.”
He said nothing, but still looked at her.
“And you’re not even my guardian! I hoped when I went to Pinewood and the girls began to get curious, I could talk about you,” confessed Nancy, plaintively. “I thought maybe, if you even weren’t married——”
“Ahem! I am not married,” said the lawyer, quickly.
“But, then, if you were truly my guardian, I might come and see you once—or you could come to the school and see me,” pursued the girl, wistfully. “But now—now there’s nothing—absolutely nothing.”
“Now there’s nothing,” repeated Mr. Gordon, uncompromisingly.
“And the girls at Pinewood Hall will be just like those at Higbee,” sighed Nancy.