“Meaning Bradmouth? Don’t look surprised, my dear. I saw the name on the clergyman’s testimonial, and also on your box.”
“Yes, Bradmouth. I lived there with an aunt, and everybody looked down upon me because of my position.”
“That was very wicked of them. But did they begin to look down upon you all at once, or had you, perhaps, some other reason for coming away? I suppose your aunt knew that you were coming?”
“No, she did not know. We do not get on together, and I thought it best not to tell her. Also, she wanted me to marry somebody whom I dislike.”
“Because there is somebody else whom you do like, I suppose, my dear. Well, it is no affair of mine. But if you will not think me impertinent, where then do you get your money from?”
“A gentleman——”
“A gentleman!” exclaimed Mrs. Bird, dropping her work in horror.
“Oh! no, not that,” said Joan, blushing; “he is a kind of guardian, a friend of my father’s, I believe. At any rate he has paid for me all these years, and says that he will allow me five pounds a month though I would rather earn my own living if possible.”
“A friend of your father’s? What a strange story! I suppose that he is not your father, my dear?”
“My father!” said Joan, opening her eyes wide in amazement,— “Mr. Levinger my father! Of course not. Why, if he were, would he have treated me like a stranger all my life?”