Adeline tried to refuse, but she could not. She was trembling so that it seemed as if she could not have set one foot before the other without help. She took his arm, and stumbled along beside him through the quiet, early spring night.
After a while he said, "Miss Northwick, there's a little piece of advice I should like to give you."
"Well?" she quavered, meekly.
"Don't let anybody lead you into the expense of trying to fight this case with the creditors. It wouldn't be any use. Your father was deeply involved—"
"He had been unfortunate, but he didn't do anything wrong," Adeline hastened to put in, nervously.
"It isn't a question of that," said Putney, with a smile which he could safely indulge in the dark. "But he owed a great deal of money, and his creditors will certainly be able to establish their right to everything but the real estate."
"My sister never wished to have anything to do with the trial. We intended just to let it go."
"That's the best way," Putney said.
"But I wanted to know whether they could take the house and the place from us."
"That was right, and I assure you they can't touch either. If you get anxious, come to me again—as often as you like."