"Wait one moment, Margaret," he said. "It may be well for me to see what this man wants--unless----" He paused. "Do you know this Boring?"
"No; I have heard of him. I have never even seen him that I know of."
"Then I'll see him first," said Neighbour Tomlin. He went into the parlour, and those who were listening heard a subdued murmur of voices.
"What is your business with Miss Bridalbin?" Neighbour Tomlin asked, ignoring the proffered hand of the visitor.
Neighbour Tomlin stood staring at the man as if he were dazed. Bridalbin's face bore the unmistakable marks of alcoholism, and he had evidently prepared himself for this interview by touching the bottle, for he held himself with a swagger.
Neighbour Tomlin said not a word in reply to the man's declaration. He stared at him, and turned and went back into the sitting-room where he had left the others.
"Why, Pulaski, what on earth is the matter?" cried Miss Fanny, as he entered the room. "You look as if you had seen a ghost." And indeed his face was white, and there was an expression in his eyes that Nan thought was most piteous.
"Go in, my dear," he said to Margaret. "The man has business with you." And then, when Margaret had gone out, he turned to Miss Fanny. "It is her father," he said.
"Well, I wonder what's he up to?" remarked Miss Fanny. There was a touch of anger in her voice. "She shan't go a step away from here with such a creature as that."
"She is her own mistress, sister. She is twenty years old," replied Neighbour Tomlin.
"Well, she'll be very ungrateful if she leaves us," said Miss Fanny, with some emphasis.
"Don't, sister; never use that word again; to me it has an ugly sound. We have had no thought of gratitude in the matter. If there is any debt in the matter, we are the debtors. We have not been at all happy in the way we have managed things. I have seen for some time that Margaret is unhappy; and we have no business to permit unhappiness to creep into this house." So said Neighbour Tomlin, and the tones of his voice seemed to issue from the fountains of grief.
"Well, I am sure I have done all I could to make the poor child happy," Miss Fanny declared.
"I am sure of that," said Neighbour Tomlin. "If any mistake has been made it is mine. And yet I have never had any other thought than to make Margaret happy."