“And the boy had you to plead his cause,” he added, smiling at her. “Come, I’ll not ask you again who this mysterious benefactor is. Perhaps I suspect. I think I’ve had some dealings with him myself.”
“I knew it!” she cried, clapping her hands in her excitement. “I knew this was not the first time, the moment he began to talk harshly to me. Oh, you should have heard him!”
“I have heard him,” he laughed. “Yes, and felt him, too.”
“Tell me.”
He shook his head.
“He would not like it. Besides, I promised not to.”
“But you will mention no names,” she protested. “You will not tell me who he is. Surely, he could not object to that!”
“I fear that is a dangerous subtlety,” he said, smiling; “but it can do no harm, since you already know.”
Here is the story—with a few details about himself which the minister somehow neglected to give.