"Certainly not!"
"He is somebody that knows us very well," said Marion, "for he asked after every one of the family in particular."
"But what had all this to do with your getting home?"
"I don't wonder you ask. The day after his last visit, came a note, saying, that he owed a debt in my family, which it had never been in his power to repay; that he could not give the enclosure to my father, who would not recognise the obligation; and that if I would permit him to place it in my hands, I should confer a singular favour upon him."
"And what was the enclosure?"
"Five hundred pounds."
Fleda's head went down again, and tears dropped fast upon little Rolf's shoulder.
"I suppose my pride has been a little broken, too," Marion went on, "or I shouldn't have kept it. But then, if you saw the person, and the whole manner of it I don't know how I could ever have sent it back. Literally I couldn't, though, for I hadn't the least clue. I never saw or heard from him afterwards."
"When was this, Marion?"
"Last spring."