“I wish we had!”

“Why don’t you go to your mother?”

“For what?”

“For the money.”

“Has she money?”

“Yes. She had a little money when she married your father, which she kept tight hold of; her mother’s death, two years ago, gave her more, and she has just married a rich man.”

“I don’t know yet what I shall do,” I replied, rising.

“Well,” he advised kindly, “before you blow your brains out or do anything else that’s a waste of good material, come and see me again.”

“Thank you,” I responded. “And, Mr. Blodgett, as a favor, I ask that all I have told you, and even my presence in New York, shall be confidential between us.”

“Nonsense!” he growled. “I shall tell Maizie all about it.”