"Do you come to see him daily?"
"Not daily; but as often as I can. It is some distance from here."
"It is a long way. But I got misdirected.
"You surely did not walk?" exclaimed Oswald.
"To be sure I walked. How else should I come?"
"There are conveyances--cabs and omnibuses."
"But they cost money," she answered, with that frank, open plainness, which, in her, seemed so great a charm. "I am not come away to England devoid of means, but they will find plenty of outlets in necessary things, without being spent in superfluities. Anyway, they must be made to last both for me and Frank, until I can leave him and go out again. I'd not speak of these things to you, Mr. Oswald Cray, but that you must know all the particulars of our position."
She had risen as she spoke, and was now tying her bonnet-strings. Oswald picked up a glove which she dropped.
"And now I'll wish you goodnight," she continued, putting her hand frankly into his. "And I'd like to thank you with all my heart for what you have done for Frank; for the good friend you have been to him. You have brought to him help and comfort when there was nobody else in the world to bring it. I shall always thank you in my heart, Mr. Oswald Cray."
Oswald laughed the words off, and attended her downstairs, catching up his hat as he went through the hall. Mrs. Benn and her black bonnet came up the kitchen stairs.