Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/91

 Gordon. There's the ink, and then being on a newspaper—I remember a young woman who came to see me last fall about the upset at the hospital. She represented the—the—well, anyway, it was one of the respectable papers. But she didn't seem at all a nice sort of person."

"I suppose there are all kinds in that business, as in all others."

Mrs. Ames glanced through the second letter. "Mr. Lovering asks what he is to do about it."

"Tell him to drop it," answered Gordon with a shrug. "You can't force the young lady to accept an annuity. Perhaps if you'd offered her the ten thousand— was it ten?—outright she'd have been better pleased."

"But that would be absurd! Fancy giving a young girl ten thousand dollars to do as she pleased with! Why, she would spend it all at once, I've no doubt; gowns and hats and jewels."

"But think of the fun she'd have," mused Gordon, smilingly. "It would be a regular fairy story for her, wouldn't it? Like waking up on Christmas morning when you're a kiddie and finding the bed all heaped up with toys. I say. Mums, let's try her on the whole lump?"