much is there to pay?" she asked, with an
anxiety she could not keep out of her voice.

"Nothing. I haven't done you any legal service. Almost any man you
showed those papers to could have told you as much as I have." She tried
to gasp out some acknowledgments and protests as he opened the doors for
her. At the outer threshold he said, "Why, you're alone!"

"Yes. I'm not at all afraid--"

"I will go home with you." Putney caught his hat from the rack, and
plunged into a shabby overcoat that dangled under it.

Adeline tried to refuse, but she could not. She was trembling so that it
seemed as if she could not have set one foot before the other without
help. She took his arm, and stumbled along beside him through the quiet,
early spring night.

After a while he said, "Miss Northwick, there's a little piece of advice
I _should_ like to give you."

"Well?" she quavered, meekly.

"Don't let anybody lead you into the expense of trying to fight this
case with the creditors. It wouldn't be any use. Your father was deeply
involved--"

"He had been unfortunate, but he didn't do anything wrong," Adeline
hastened to put in, nervously.

"It isn't a question of that," said Putney, with a smile which he could
safely indulge in the dark. "But he owed a great deal of money, and his
creditors will certainly be able to establish their right to everything
but the real estate."

"My sister never wished to have anything to do with the trial. We
intended just to let it go."

"That's the best way," Putney said.

"But I wanted to know whether they could take the house and the place
from us."

"That was right, and I assure you they can't touch either. If you get
anxious, come to me again--as often as you like."

"I will, indeed, Mr. Putney," said the old maid, submissively. She let
him walk home with her, and up the avenue till they came in sight of the
house. Then she plucked her hand away from his arm, and thanked him,
with a pathetic little titter. "I don't know what Suzette would say if
she knew I had been to consult you," she suggested.

"It's for you to tell her," said Putney, seriously. "But you'd better
act together. You will need all your joint resources in that way."

"Oh, I shall tell her," said Adeline. "I'm not sorry for it, and I think
just as you do, Mr. Putney."

"Well, I'm glad you do," said Putney, as if it were a favor.

When he reached home, his wife asked, "Where in the world have you been,
Ralph?"