"I didn't say it was a fortune: there's only ten thousand dollars
there."

"That sounds formidable, but unless the people who are waiting for you
muster more than ten thousand apiece, I don't think you should make
haste on their account."

"It's the other way about, Mr. Drummond. Individually they are poorer
than I, therefore I should have returned long ago. Now, I fear, they
will be in a temper."

"Well, if anybody left me two thousand pounds, I'd take an afternoon
off to celebrate. Here we are in the suburbs again. Won't you change
your mind and your direction; let us get back into the country, sit
down on the hillside, look at the Bay, and gloat over your wealth?"

Dorothy Amhurst shook her head and held out her hand.

"I must bid you good-by here, Lieutenant Drummond. This is my shortest
way home."

"May I not accompany you just a little farther?"

"Please, no, I wish to go the rest of the way alone."

He held her hand, which she tried to withdraw, and spoke with
animation.

"There's so much I wanted to say, but perhaps the most important is