“P.S.—You will find my note inclosed.”
And there, sure enough, it was, Edna’s note to Robert Leighton, Esq.:
“Chicago, October 18, 18—.
“For value received I promise to pay to Robert Leighton, or bearer, the sum of two hundred dollars, with interest at seven per cent per annum, from date.
“Edna Browning Churchill.”
Roy read these lines more than once, and his eyes were moist with tears as he said aloud:
“Brave little woman. I like you now, if I never did before.”
He did not want the money; he wished in his heart that Edna had it, and more too; and yet he was in some way glad she had sent it back and written him that letter, which gave him an insight into her character. She was not a mere saucy, frolicsome girl, given to making caricatures of men in poke bonnets; there was about her a courage and energy, and strict integrity, which he liked, and he felt some curiosity to know if she would pay the two hundred dollars as she had promised to do.
“I believe I’ll let her alone for a while till I see what is in her,” he said, “and, when I am satisfied, I’ll go for her myself and bring her home. My broken leg will be well long before she can earn that money. Brave little woman!”
Roy sent this letter to his mother but withheld the one which came to him next day from Edna, full of intense mortification and earnest entreaties that he would not think her base enough to have accepted Charlie’s presents if she had known they were not paid for. Somebody had written to her that the jeweller in Canandaigua had a bill against Charlie for a watch and chain, and coral set, which had been bought with promise of immediate payment.