"Sure! Naturally, of course," sneered the boy. "Did you think the
twenty-two hundred was the rent of the entire building?"

"Well, I didn't know. I--"

"The rent," interrupted Caroline, with dignity, "was twenty-four
hundred, but, thanks to Mrs. Dunn, who explained to her cousin that we
were friends of hers, it was reduced."

"We being in reduced circumstances," observed her brother in supreme
disgust. "Pity the poor orphans! By gad!"

"That was real nice of Mrs. Dunn," declared Captain Elisha, heartily.
"She's pretty well-off herself, I s'pose--hey, Caroline?"

"I presume so."

"Yes, yes. About how much is she wuth, think?"

"I don't know. I never inquired."

"No. Well, down our way," with a chuckle, "we don't have to inquire. Ask
anybody you meet what his next door neighbor's wuth, and he'll tell you
within a hundred, and how he got it, and how much he owes, and how he
gets along with his wife. Ho! ho! Speakin' of wives, is this Mr. Dunn
married?"

He looked at his niece as he asked the question. There was no reason why
Caroline should blush; she knew it, and hated herself for doing it.