"I thank you, sir, in behalf of my father as well as myself," said
Ishmael.
"Now, let me see—nine hundred and seventy, eighty, ninety, an hundred—that is one thousand. I will lay that by itself," muttered the judge, still counting his money.
"I met an old acquaintance down in the city," said Ishmael, gradually feeling his way towards the announcement of Katie.
"Ah!" said the judge indifferently, and going on with his counting.
"An old friend, indeed, I may say," added Ishmael emphatically.
"Yes," replied the judge absently, and continuing to count.
"Judge Merlin," inquired Ishmael, in a meaning tone, "have you no curiosity to know who it was that I met near the quays?"
"No," said the old man, counting diligently; "some fellow you knew in Washington, I suppose, my boy. Why, the Lord bless you, I stumbled over half a dozen acquaintances on my way to the consulate and the bank. Among them Frank Tourneysee, who is staying here with his brother for the benefit of his health. He is a consumptive, poor man! crossed in love; or something;
"Sir, it was no casual acquaintance or ordinary friend that I met," said Ishmael, in so grave a voice that the judge looked up from his work and stared in wonder, not at the words, but at the manner of the speaker.
"It was no man, but a woman, sir," continued Ishmael, fixing his eyes wistfully upon the face of the old man.