"Then for mercy's sake give it! right here! you! come!" The youth
laughed. "Mercy to me, I mean. But--wait! Tell me; couldn't Castanado
have given it, as easily as you?"

"You never gave Castanado this chance."

"How do you know that? Oh, never mind, go ahead--full speed."

"Well, she's an orphan, of a fine old family----"

"Obviously! Creole, of course, the family?"

"Yes, though always small in Louisiana. Creole except one New England
grandmother. But for that one she would not have been here just now."

"Humph! that's rather obscure but--go on."

"Her parents left her without a sou or a relation except two maiden aunts
as poor as she."

"Antiques?"

"Yes. She earns their living and her own."

"You don't care to say how?"

"She wouldn't like it. 'Twould be to say where."

"She seems able to dress exquisitely."