"Now, John, it's yer wish to help me that's makin' ye talk nonsense," Nancy put in, but young John did not heed her.
"You will take the money?" he asked, pleadingly.
Nancy gazed back at her old ramshackle hotel, and then her eyes rested softly on young John's face.
"You made me promise once, now it's your turn," he continued.
"Ye're not deceivin' me, John?" she said, hesitatingly.
"It's from Corney, sure," he affirmed, handing her the roll of bills.
"It's in me will fer Corney an' the girls, an' it's all I have to leave them. I couldn't give it up," she said, brokenly, as she took the money.
"Faith, it's dinner time, an' I'm sittin' out a-gossipin' when I should be at work," she announced, springing up. "Ye'll stay fer dinner, surely?" she asked of young John.
"I will with pleasure, Nancy," he assented.
Miss Sophia Piper dropped into the tavern during the afternoon. She could not help it, for she was full of news, and her aversion to the premises was fast drifting from her. In her heart she loved the strange old woman with the kindly eyes and rugged manner. Her talk was all of young John Keene's return, and she confided with happy tears stealing down her cheeks that his marriage with Miss Trevor would take place the following week.