shot.

Edward Cossey coloured. "I did not mean that I took any particular
interest in Miss de la Molle," he said, "I was referring to the
family."

"Oh, quite so, though I'm sure I don't know why you shouldn't. Miss de
la Molle is one of the most charming women that I ever met, I think
the most charming except my own wife Belle," and he again looked up
suddenly at Edward Cossey who, for his part, coloured for the second
time.

"It seems to me," went on the lawyer, "that a man in your position has
a most splendid opportunity of playing knight errant to the lovely
damsel in distress. Here is the lady with her aged father about to be
sold up and turned out of the estates which have belonged to her
family for generations--why don't you do the generous and graceful
thing, like the hero in a novel, and take up the mortgages?"

Edward Cossey did not reject this suggestion with the contempt that
might have been expected; on the contrary he appeared to be turning
the matter over in his mind, for he drummed a little tune with his
knuckles and stared out of the window.

"What is the sum?" he said presently.

"Five-and-twenty thousand, and he wants four more, say thirty
thousand."

"And where am I going to find thirty thousand pounds to take up a