"There are good and sufficient reasons which may be made known to you at some future time," replied Mr. Berners.
"Humph! then I s'pose it's a case of a secret marriage, that can't be acknowledged yet a while, upon account of offending rich parents, and being cut off from their property or something. I have heard of such things before now. Well, sir, I don't want to intrude on your secrets, and I know how to keep a still tongue in my head. And as for the baby, sir, she has made her own way into my heart, and whatever her parents have been and done, I shall love and nuss her as if she was my own."
"You are a good woman, Mrs. Fugitt; and now to business. I, as guardian to that child, wish to make some definite arrangement for her support for the next two years at least."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know lawyer Sheridan?"
"Of course I do, sir; he drawed up the papers between the Colonel and my old man when my old man made an engagement with the Colonel to oversee the plantation for five years."
"Very well. This Mr. Sheridan will pay you quarterly installments of money amounting to six hundred dollars a year for the support of the child."
The overseer's wife was a very simple-hearted woman, so she burst out, with her surprise:
"But that is a great deal of money, sir. More than twice too much."
"I do not think so. The child is entitled to much more, if she could use it. At any rate, that is her allowance. And here is the first quarterly payment in advance," said Mr. Berners, placing a roll of bank-notes on the woman's lap.