'The box is broken, and I am going to have the lock mended.'
'But, Mr. Herring, you have just come from the Cobbledicks.'
'Yes,' he answered, and then hesitated. He was unaccustomed to fence with the truth. 'When the accident took place, the box was lost somehow, and Joyce has found and restored it me.'
'I hope you have lost nothing of value from it.'
'I have lost nothing from it,' he replied. 'But never mind the box now, Miss Battishill. Tell me what it is that now occasions you trouble.'
'Old Mr. Tramplara has written a peremptory letter to my father, calling up all the money that he has advanced him on the security of the property.'
'And your father is not in a position to pay?'
'I am sure he is not. The letter must be answered, and that speedily. I need your advice. I dare not let my dear father see the letter; the result might be fatal in his present state.'
'No,' answered Herring, 'he must know nothing of the demand.'
'But if we do not meet this call, and meet it we cannot, Mr. Tramplara will turn us out and sell the estate.'