"Doesn't your father object?" she asked.
"Pshaw!" laughed Howard. "He doesn't see what's going on under his very nose. He's too proud a man, too sure of his own good judgment, to believe for a moment that the woman to whom he gave his name would be guilty of the slightest indiscretion of that kind."
Annie was silent for a minute. Then she said:
"What makes you think that Underwood would let you have the money?"
"Because I think he's got it. I obliged him once in the same way myself. I would explain to him what I want it for. He will see at once that it is a good thing. I'll offer him a good rate of interest, and he might be very glad to let me have it. Anyhow, there's no harm trying."
Annie said nothing. She did not entirely approve this idea of her husband trying to borrow money of a man in whom his stepmother was so much interested. On the other hand starvation stared them in the face. If Howard could get hold of this $2,000 and start in the brokerage business it might be the beginning of a new life for them.
"Well, do as you like, dear," she said. "When will you go to him?"
"The best time to catch him would be in the evening," replied Howard.
"Well, then, go to-night," she suggested.
Howard shook his head.