"She had two hundred, I think," said Ellen. "I did not know the exact sum until to-day: Mrs. Cumberland never talked to me about these matters. Papa allows me for my own purse fifty pounds every half-year. Mrs. Cumberland always gave me that."
"Ah," said Mr. North. "That's a good deal, too."
"Will you take the draft, sir; and let me have the fifty pounds at your convenience?"
Mr. North looked up as one who does not understand.
"The money is not for me, child."
"But I am staying here," she said, deprecatingly.
He shook his head as he put back the paper.
"Give it to Richard, my dear. He will know what to do about it, and what's right to be done. And so your father is coming home! We shall be sorry to lose you, Ellen. I am getting to love you, child. It seems as if you had come in the place of my poor lost Bessy."
But Ellen was not sorry. The arrival of Mr. Adair would at least remove her from her present position, where every hour, as it passed, could only bring fresh pain to her.