The head went on firmly shaking.
“Then let me read the letter again.”
“No, grandpa,” decidedly.
He kept one arm around her as he smoothed his mustache. “Is there something you think I ought to do?”
A light seemed to illumine the eyes that the little girl kept fixed on his, but she did not speak.
“Do you think it discourteous for me to spend my evenings away from those two? They don't want me, child.”
Still she did not speak. Mr. Evringham was divided between a desire to shake her and the wish to see the familiar fondness return to her face.
“You wrote that Eloise thinks I do not want her and her mother here. Her intelligence is of a higher order than I feared. Well, what can be done about it? I've been asking myself that for some time. How would it do to settle some money upon them and then say good-by?”
“If you did it with love,” suggested Jewel.
“It's my impression that they could dispense with the love under those circumstances.” The broker gave a slight smile.