'Are you living with friends?'
'No, I am living alone.'
'Are your parents living?'
'Yes,' she answered. 'Oh, yes.'
From anyone else she could and would have resented such questioning, but there was something about this man that compelled her to answer him.
'Were they unkind to you?'
'No, no!' cried Alice. 'They have always been the best of the best to me.'
'Kind parents living,' he said musingly, 'and you are not with them. Our good friend yonder told me how he met you. Tell me—what does it all mean? It will be to your good to tell me.'
'What do you want to know?'