“You must find it very unpleasant always being robbed by landladies,” he said.
“Bram and I were very lucky usually. We met far more pleasant landladies than unpleasant ones.”
Nancy paused. She was wondering if she should be able to explain her mission more easily if the subject of it were not present.
“I wonder if Letizia’s aunts would like to see her?”
“Oh, I’m sure they would,” Caleb answered. “We’ll all go into the drawing-room. I’m sure you must be wanting your tea.”
“If we could leave Letizia with her aunts, I would like very much to talk to you for a minute or two alone.”
Caleb squirmed.
“Don’t be anxious,” Nancy laughed. “I’m not going to ask you to lend me any money.”
“Oh, of course not,” he said with a shudder. “I never thought you were going to do that. I knew Bram would have explained to you that I really couldn’t afford it. We have had the most dreadful expenses lately in connection with the factory. I have had to lock up several thousand pounds.”
He made this announcement with as much judicial severity as if he had actually condemned the greater part of his fortune to penal servitude for life.