Mrs. West removed a knitting needle from between her lips and knit it into the heel she had “turned.”

“Where is he—­now?” she asked.

“I never saw him after that night—­he never wrote to me; I went to him in prison but he refused to see me.  I have heard of him many times through his brother; he fled to Europe as soon as he was released, and has never returned home—­to my knowledge.  I think his brother has not heard from him for some years.  When I said I had not a friend, I did not mention this brother; he was young when it happened, too young to have any pity for his brother; he was very kind to me, they all were.  This brother was a half-brother—­there were two mothers—­and much younger.”

“What was his name?”

Mrs. West did not mean to be inquisitive, but she did want to know and not simply for the sake of knowing.

“Excuse me—­but I must keep the secret for his brother’s sake.  He’s the only one left.”

“I may not know the name of the bank then?”

“If you knew that you would know all.  But I know that your husband lost his small patrimony in it—­twenty-five hundred dollars—­”

“H’m,” escaped Mrs. West’s closely pressed lips.

“And that is one strong reason why I want to educate your two daughters.”

The knitting dropped from the unsteady fingers.

“And I’ve fretted and fretted about that money, and asked the Lord how my girls ever were to be educated.”

“You know now,” said Miss Prudence.  “I had to tell you, for I feared that you would not listen to my plan.  You may guess how I felt when your sister-in-law, Mrs. Easton, told me that she was to take Linnet for a year or two and let her go to school.  At first I could not see my way clear, my money is all spent for a year to come—­I only thought of taking Marjorie home with me—­but, I have arranged it so that I can spare a little; I have been often applied to to take music pupils, and if I do that I can take one of the girls home with me and send her to school; next year I will take all the expense upon myself, wardrobe and all.  There is a cheap way of living in large cities as well as an expensive one.  If Linnet goes to Boston with her aunt, she will be kept busy out of school hours.  Mrs. Easton is very kindhearted but she considers no one where her children are concerned.  If I wore diamonds that Linnet’s money purchased, aren’t you willing she shall eat bread and butter my money purchases?”

“But you gave the diamonds up?”

“I wore them, though.”

“That diamond plea has done duty a good many times, I guess,” said Mrs. West, smiling down upon the head in her lap.

“No, it hasn’t.  His brother has done many things for me; people are ready enough to take money from his brother, and the widows are my friends.  It has not been difficult.  It would have been without him.”