"The old wretch! Excuse me, child, I forgot that he was your grandfather. So you were wholly left out of the will?"
"If my cousin should die, the whole property would come to us."
"He should have left the property between you. But I fancy you think I am a curious old woman, with my questions."
"I don't think you an old woman at all, madam."
Miss Wilmot smiled. Though she was a spinster of over forty she was not wholly without appreciation of a compliment, and the reply of Rose pleased her.
"At any rate, I am old enough to be your mother, my dear," she said. "But that is neither here nor there. How much did you expect to get for that ring?"
"I hoped that I might get three dollars," said Rose, hesitatingly. "I owe Mrs. Flanagan—she is my landlady—a dollar and a half, and I could pay that and have a little fund left to fall back upon."
"A little fund—a dollar and a half!" said Miss Wilmot, pityingly.
"I suppose I would not get so much at a pawnbroker's?" continued Rose.