'I have often heard of you, Captain Knowlton,' she said, as he rose from his chair, 'although I have never seen you before.'
'Oh, well,' he answered, 'I have been in India the last five years! I came home last week, and from a few words I heard at the club, I gathered that poor Frank Everard's boy——'
Aunt Marion's cheeks flushed, and she held her head a little further back.
'I have done the best I could for him,' she exclaimed.
'I am certain of that,' he continued; 'but, anyhow, I made inquiries, and, after some difficulty, succeeded in discovering your address. Perhaps,' he added, glancing in my direction, 'you would not mind sparing me a few minutes alone.'
To my great disgust, she told me to run away, so that I returned to the damp passage, which was now deserted by Jane. After waiting there what seemed a long time, I saw Captain Knowlton on the stairs. After bidding me good-bye, he let himself out of the house.
'Aunt Marion!' I cried, before there was time to reach the sitting-room, 'he says that Father saved his life!'
'Well, Jack, he said what was quite true.'
'But,' I continued, 'why did Captain Knowlton call father "poor Frank Everard?" Was he really poor?'
Aunt Marion sighed before she answered.