"
"Poor child! poor Helena!" said Mr. Craven, thoughtfully; then spreading
a sheet of note-paper on his blotting-pad, and drawing his cheque-book
towards him, he proceeded:
"Now remember, Patterson, I trust to your honour implicitly. You must
not make love to that girl; I think a man can scarcely act more
dishonourably towards a woman, than to induce her to enter into what
must be, under the best circumstances, a very long engagement."
"You may trust me, sir," I answered, earnestly. "Not," I added, "that I
think it would be a very easy matter to make love to anyone with Miss
Blake sitting by."
Mr. Craven laughed; he could not help doing so at the idea I had
suggested. Then he said, "I had a letter from Miss Blake this morning
asking me for money."
"And you are going to let her have some of that hundred pounds you
intended yesterday to place against her indebtedness to you," I
suggested.
"That is so," he replied. "Of course, when Miss Helena comes of age, we
must turn over a new leaf--we really must."
To this I made no reply. It would be a most extraordinary leaf, I
considered, in which Miss Blake did not appear as debtor to my
employer but it scarcely fell within my province to influence Mr.
Craven's actions.
"You had better ask Miss Blake to acknowledge receipt of this," said my
principal, holding up a cheque for ten pounds as he spoke.
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