"I don't follow you, I fear."

"I assume that this money comes to you in payment for some--work you
have done--"

"It is an assumption, certainly."

"You can appreciate, perhaps, that I am not idly inquisitive. I
shouldn't--"

"What is it that you wish to know?"

"As to this money--"

"Really, you know as much about it as I do. It came exactly as I handed
it to you: the envelope, the blank paper, and the bill."

"But you know, of course, where it comes from?"

"I can't say I do. Evidently," said Mr. Queed, "it is intended as a
gift."

"Then--perhaps you have a good friend here after all? Some one who has
guessed--"

"I think I told you that I have but two friends, and I know for a
certainty that they are both in New York. Besides, neither of them would
give me twenty dollars."

"But--but--but," said the girl, laughing through her utter