He noticed it, and the kindly words he was about to utter were hushed on his lips.
After placing a chair for her, and taking one near it, he waited for her to proceed.
"I—I have come to ask your indulgence in a little matter," she said, faintly.
"Yes?" he said, kindly.
For a moment there was silence between them—a deep, painful, awkward silence, which was broken at length by Ida.
"I have been looking over some furniture," she said, tremulously, "and—and I could use just double the amount of money you gave me. Would you be very, very angry if I asked you for a thousand dollars more?"
He threw back his head and laughed outright.
"One would think, by the manner in which you express yourself, that you were suing for some great favor, the granting of which you doubted."
She looked at him with dilated eyes, the color coming and going in her face.
She could not understand, by his remark, whether or not he intended giving it to her.