"Let this be the end of it.
When you present my note of acknowledgment for the amount, I will pay
it and not before."
"That is all I ask," said Robert.
"What?" demanded the superintendent.
"I mean that this assurance is all I want. The note shall be presented
to you in the course of the day."
"What do you mean?" asked Davis, startled.
"I mean this, Mr. Davis: that I found my father in Calcutta. He came
home with me, and, far from having perished at sea, is now alive and
well. He has with him your note for five thousand dollars, and will
present it in person."
"You are deceiving me!" exclaimed Davis, in consternation.
"You will soon learn whether I am deceiving you or not," said Robert. "I
will now bid you good-morning. My father will call upon you in the
course of the day."
He rose to go, leaving the superintendent thunderstruck at the
intelligence of Captain Rushton's return. The five thousand dollars,
with arrears of interest, would take the greater part of the money whose
sudden acquisition had so elated him. While he was considering the
situation, his wife entered.
"I think, Mr. Davis," she said, "I will go to New York to-day to buy
carpeting, if you can spare the money."
"Neither now nor at any other time," he roared, savagely; "the old
carpet must do."
"Why, then, did you tell me fifteen minutes since that I might buy one?
What do you mean by such trifling, Mr.
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