“And I think very likely,” said Mr. Cowdrick, “that my poor little girl can have her lover back again, if she wants him, too.”
“Papa, what do you mean?” asked Leonie.
“Why, I commissioned a man named Gunn, in whom I have some confidence, to visit Weems, and to sound him, to ascertain how he felt with regard to the result of your suit.”
“Well?”
“Gunn reports to me that Weems feels repentant; says he always loved you, and would give anything to have the past recalled.”
Here Mr. Cowdrick, having constructed a sturdy falsehood, winked at his wife; and Leonie said:
“Well, papa, I don’t know whether I am quite willing to forgive him, but I confess that I care more for Julius than for any other person.”
“We shall see what can be done,” remarked Mr. Cowdrick. “And now you must excuse me. I have to go to meet my counsel to prepare for the trial;” and Mr. Cowdrick withdrew.
The interview between Mr. Weems and Mr. Benjamin P. Gunn, to which Mr. Cowdrick alluded, was conducted upon a rather different basis from that indicated by the banker in his conversation with Leonie.
Mr. Gunn, upon his entrance to the studio of the artist, began by expressing his regret at the issue of the breach of promise suit.