Somehow, Mr. Wingate found it a little difficult to begin, and after several attempts he put the plain question abruptly:—
"When can you leave, Salome?"
She caught her breath, and Amy felt the arm about her waist grow rigid, but she answered by another question:—
"Must thee really turn us out, Archibald?"
The plain, affectionate "thee" touched him, yet for that reason he settled himself all the more firmly in his decision.
"What has to be done would better be done at once. It is a long time, Salome, since I have had any recompense for the use of this—my property—"
"Your property?" cried Hallam.
"Yes, mine. Mine it should have been by lawful inheritance, save for a rank injustice and favoritism. Mine it is now, by right of actual purchase, the purchase of my own! Your mother seems to desire that you should at last learn the whole truth, and I assure you that I have advanced more than twice the money required to buy this place, even at an inflated market value. So, lad, don't get angry or indignant. I make no statements that I cannot prove, nor can your parents deny that I notified them to vacate these premises more than two years ago."
"Mother, is that so?"
"Yes, Hallam."