But I knew SOMEONE had helped, and Annie dropped a
hint. Then I suspected, and now I know. Those poor people!"
The captain, who had been looking at the floor, and frowning a bit,
suddenly glanced up to find his niece's eyes fixed upon him, and they
were filled with tears.
"Will you forgive me?" she asked, rising from her chair, and coming
impulsively toward him. "I'm sorry I misjudged you and treated you so.
You must be a very good man. Please forgive me."
He took her hand, which was swallowed up in his big one. His eyes were
moist, also.
"Lord love you, dearie," he said, "there's nothin' to forgive. I
realized that I must have seemed like a mean, stingy old scamp. Yet I
didn't mean to be. I only wanted to look into this thing just a little.
Just as a matter of business, you know. And I... Caroline, did that
doctor tell you anything more?"
"Any more?" she repeated in bewilderment. "He told me that you were the
kindest man he had ever seen."
"Yes, yes. Well, maybe his eyesight's poor. What I mean is did he tell
you anything about anybody else bein' in this with me?"
"Anybody else? What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothin', nothin'. I joked with him a spell ago about a wealthy
relation of the Moriarty tribe turnin up. 'Twas only a joke, of course.
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