"Of course I did; but I have no proof."
"Did you pay him by check?" asked Ruth, who was quite a business woman, and keeper of the house.
"Unfortunately I was not prosperous enough in those days to have a bank account," answered Mr. DeVere. "A check would be a receipt; but I haven't that. In fact, I haven't a particle of evidence to show that I paid the money. And Dan Merley has my note. He could sue me on it, and any court would give him a judgment against me, so he could collect."
"But that would be paying him twice!" exclaimed Alice.
"I know it, and that is the injustice of it. It would be out of the question for me to raise five hundred dollars now. My throat treatment has been expensive, and though we are making good money at the moving picture business, I have not enough to pay this debt twice."
"He is a wicked man!" burst out Alice.
"My dear!" Ruth gently reproved.
"I don't care! He is, to make daddy pay twice!"
"Yes, it is hard lines," sighed the veteran actor. "I have begged and pleaded with Merley, imploring him to try and remember that I paid him, but he is positive that I did not do so."
"Do you suppose he really thinks so—that he is honest in his belief that you never paid him?" asked Ruth.