"
"Where is he--now?" she asked.
"I never saw him after that night--he never wrote to me; I went to him in
prison but he refused to see me. I have heard of him many times through
his brother; he fled to Europe as soon as he was released, and has never
returned home--to my knowledge. I think his brother has not heard from
him for some years. When I said I had not a friend, I did not mention
this brother; he was young when it happened, too young to have any pity
for his brother; he was very kind to me, they all were. This brother was
a half-brother--there were two mothers--and much younger."
"What was his name?"
Mrs. West did not mean to be inquisitive, but she did want to know and
not simply for the sake of knowing.
"Excuse me--but I must keep the secret for his brother's sake. He's the
only one left."
"I may not know the name of the bank then?"
"If you knew that you would know all. But _I_ know that your husband lost
his small patrimony in it--twenty-five hundred dollars--"
"H'm," escaped Mrs. West's closely pressed lips.
"And that is one strong reason why I want to educate your two daughters."
The knitting dropped from the unsteady fingers.
"And I've fretted and fretted about that money, and asked the Lord how my
girls ever were to be educated."
"You know now," said Miss Prudence. "I had to tell you, for I feared that
you would not listen to my plan. You may guess how I felt when your
sister-in-law, Mrs. Easton, told me that she was to take Linnet for a
year or two and let her go to school.
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