“That’s true,” Diane admitted, ruefully, “but I might go away.  I will go away, if you say so.”

“You’ll please yourself.  I didn’t send for you, and I’ll not tell you to go.  How old are you?”

It was Diane’s turn to be surprised, but she brought out her age promptly.

“Twenty-four.”

“You look older.”

“That’s because I’ve had so much trouble, perhaps.  It’s because we’re in trouble that I’ve come to you, Mr. van Tromp.”

“I dare say.  I didn’t suppose you’d come to ask me to dinner.  There are not many days go by without some one expecting me to pull him out of the scrape he would never have got into if it hadn’t been for his own fault.”

“I’m afraid that’s very like my case.”

“It’s like a good many cases.  You’re no exception to the rule.”

“And what do you do at such times, if I may ask?”

“You may ask, but I’ll not tell you.  You’re here on your own business, I presume, and not on mine.”

“I thought that perhaps you’d be good enough to make mine yours.  Though we’ve never met, I have seen you at various times, and it always seemed to me that you looked kind; and so—­”

“Stop right there, ma’am!” he cried, putting up a warning hand. “’Most important business,’ was what you said in your note, otherwise I shouldn’t have consented to see you.  If you have any business, state it, and I’ll say yes or no, as it strikes me.  But I’ll tell you beforehand that there isn’t a chance in a thousand but what it’ll be no.”

“I did come because I thought you looked kind,” Diane declared, indignantly, “and if you think it was for any other reason whatever, you’re absolutely mistaken.”

“Then we’ll let it be.  I can’t help my looks, nor what you think about them.  The point is that you’re here for something; so let’s know what it is.”

“You make it very hard for me,” Diane said, almost tearfully, “but I’ll try.  I must tell you, first of all, that we’ve lost a great deal of money.”

“That’s no new situation.”

“It is to me; and it’s even more so to my poor mother-in-law.  I should think you must have heard of her at least.  She is Mrs. Arthur Eveleth.  Her maiden name was Naomi de Ruyter, of New York.”

“Very likely.”

“Her husband was related, on his mother’s side, to the Van Tromps—­the same family as your own.”

“That’s more likely still.  There are as many Van Tromps in New York as there are shrimps on the Breton coast, and they’re all related to me, because I’m supposed to have a little money.”

“I sha’n’t let you offend me,” Diane said, stoutly, “because I want your help.”

“That’s a very good reason.”

“But since you take so little interest in us I will not attempt to explain how it is that we’ve come to such misfortune.”

“I’ll take that for granted.”

“The blow has fallen more heavily on my mother-in-law than on me.  She has lost everything she had in the world; while I have still my own money—­my dot—­and a little over from the sale of my jewels.”