"It seems such a strange up-bringing for a young lady."
"True, true!" muttered the little doctor, with a frown; "but what can I do? I am very poor. I make barely enough to live. I can do nothing--nothing."
"But Miss Linisfarne might; she is a rich old maid with no relatives."
"Miss Linisfarne!" said Merle, in tones of deep sorrow.
"Yes, she might adopt her."
Dan said the words carelessly enough, and was quite unprepared for their effect on his host. Merle sprang out of his seat. He had grown deadly white, and he seized Dan's arm with a shaking hand. He looked like a man thoroughly terrified, and could hardly articulate a word.
"Did--did Tim the Tinker--say--say--anything?"
"What do you mean?" asked Dan, with surprise.
Merle looked at him steadily for a moment, and then turned away, wiping his forehead with a hankerchief.
"It's all right," Dan overheard him mutter; "he knows nothing--nothing."