"Tave, wait a little while; don't go yet."
He sat down.
"I thought—I felt all was lost—no one cared—I was alone—there was no help. You have shown me that I have been wrong—all wrong—such friends—such a friend as you—" Her lips quivered; the tears welled from the red and swollen lids. "I can't take the money, Tave, I can't—don't look so—only on one condition. I've been coming to a decision the last two days. I'm going straight to Almeda, Tave, and ask her, beg her, if I have to, on my bended knees to save my boy—she has more than enough—you know, Tave, what Champney should have had—"
Octavius nodded emphatically and found his voice.
"Don't I know? You may bet your life I know more'n I've ever told, Aurora. Don't I know how Louis Champney said to me: 'Tave, I shall see the boy through; forty thousand of mine is to be his'; and that was six weeks before he died; and don't I know, too, how I didn't get a glimpse of Louis Champney again till two weeks before his death, and then he was unconscious and didn't know me or any one else?"
Octavius paused for breath. Aurora Googe rose and went to the closet.
"I must go now, Tave; take me with you." She took out a cloak and burnous.
"I hate to say it, Aurora, but I'm afraid it won't do no good; she's a tough cuss when it comes to money—"
"But she must; he's her own flesh and blood and she's cheated him out of what is rightfully his. It's been my awful pride that kept me from going sooner—and—oh, Tave, Tave,—I tried to make my boy promise never to ask her for money! I've been hoping all along she would offer—"
"Offer! Almeda Champney offer to help any one with her money that was Louis Champney's!"