“Possibly, if I had plenty of money; but what little I have is tied up where I can’t get at it conveniently.”
“Oh, then you can buy it right away!” Polly cried gleefully. “You can take my two thousand dollars! Won’t that be enough?”
Dr. Dudley’s lips set themselves firmly, and he shook his head.
“No, Thistledown, I cannot touch your money. Don’t you remember, I told you it must stay where it is until you are of age?”
“Oh, but this is different!” she urged. “Please take it—do!”
Her entreaties, however, could not prevail against the Doctor’s judgment.
“What shall we do, then?” she complained.
“Keep still for the present,” he laughed. “The house isn’t sold yet, perhaps won’t be. Don’t worry over it, Thistledown! There will be some way out, and a good way, too. Your Cousin Floyd told me to-night that the Royal is due to-morrow. You know that is the steamer his father sailed on, so you may expect to see your uncle by Friday. Floyd thinks he will come up at once.”
“I shall like him if he is as nice as Floyd,” returned Polly thoughtfully.
Dr. Dudley said nothing. He was weighing love and legal rights against wealth and near kinship. The balance did not appear to be in his favor.