"I will be careful for your sake, Mrs. Mack," said Mark good-humoredly. "You'll get your money back, and twenty-five cents more."
The old woman's face was a study—between avarice on the one hand and timidity on the other.
"I—I'm afraid," she said.
She rocked to and fro in her chair in her mental perturbation, and Mark saw that his errand was a failure.
"If you change your mind, let me know," he said.
As he reached the foot of the stairs he was treated to a surprise. There, just in front of his mother's door stood Solon Talbot and Edgar.
CHAPTER III.
AN UNEXPECTED CALL.
"In what room does your mother live?" asked Solon Talbot.
"This is our home," said Mark, proceeding to open the door.
Edgar Talbot sniffed contemptuously.