bsolutely untamed and
ferocious in regard to the matter, but I do really wish very much that
you would give me some explanation of your very odd doings. In fact,
that is the only thing that now keeps me here."

"I thought so," said Mrs Null. "As I supposed you had got through with
your business with Junius, I did not wish to detain you here any longer
than was necessary."

"Thank you," said Lawrence.

"You are welcome," she said. "And when I saw you standing on the porch
by yourself, the idea of being generous to old Aunt Patsy came into my
mind. And here we are. Now, what do you want to know first?"

"Well," said Mr Croft, "I would like very much to know how a young lady
like you came to be Mr Candy's cashier."

"I supposed you would want to know that," she said. "It's a dreadfully
long story, and as it is a strictly family matter I had almost made up
my mind last night that I ought not to tell it to you at all, but as I
don't know how much you are mixed up with the family, I afterward
thought it best, for my own sake, to explain the matter to you. So I
will give you the principal points. My mother was a sister of Mrs
Keswick, and Junius' mother was another sister. Both his parents died
when he was a boy, and Aunt Keswick brought him up. My mother died here
when I was quite small, and I stayed until I was eight years old. Aunt
Keswick and my father were not very good friends, and when she came to
look upon me as entirely her own child, and wished to deprive him of all
rights and privileges as a parent, he resented it very much, and, at
last, took me away. I don't remember exactly how this was done, but I
know there was a tremendous quarrel, and my father and aunt never met
again.

"He took me to New York; and there we lived very happily until about two
years ago, when my father died. He was a lawyer by profession, but at
that time held a salaried position in a railroad company, and when he
died, of course our income ceased. The money that was left did not last
very long, and then I had to decide what I was to do. It would have been
natural for me to go to my only relatives, Aunt Keswick and Junius. But
my father had been so opposed to my aunt having anything to do with me
that I could not bear to go to her. He had really been so much afraid
that she would try to win me away from him, or in some way gain
possession of me, that he would not even let her know our address, and
never answered the few letters from her