"It's awfully good of you to take so much trouble, I'm sure," remarked Mr. Curtis politely, still with the same mystified look.
"Not at all," replied Georgie, coolly. "It's all in my line of business, you know. Mr. Carrington is to give me a hundred dollars for the job; which is excellent pay, because I can take my own time for doing it, and work at odd moments."
Her interlocutor looked more perplexed than ever. A distinct embarrassment became visible in his manner at the words "job" and "pay."
"Certainly," he said. Then coloring a little he frankly went on, "I don't understand a bit. Would you mind telling me what it all means?"
"Oh, you haven't happened to hear of my 'befalments,' as Miss Sally Scannell would call them."
"I did hear of your mother's death," said Bob, gently, "and I was truly sorry. She was so kind to me always in the old days."
"She was kind to everybody. I am glad you were sorry," said Georgie, bright tears in the eyes which she turned with a grateful look on Bob. "Well, that was the beginning of it all."
There was another pause, during which Bob pulled his moustache nervously! Then he drew a chair to the table and sat down.
"Can you talk while you're working?" he asked. "And mayn't I help? It seems as though I might at least lift those books out for you. Now, if you don't mind, if it isn't painful, won't you tell me what has happened to you, for I see that something _has_ happened."
"A great deal has happened, but it isn't painful to tell about it. Things _were_ puzzling at first, but they have turned out wonderfully; and I'm rather proud of the way they have gone."
So, little by little, with occasional interruptions for lifting out books and jotting down titles, she told her story, won from point to point by the eager interest which her companion showed in the narrative. When she had finished, he brought his hand down heavily on the table.
"I'll tell you what," he exclaimed with vigorous emphasis, "it's most extraordinary that a girl should do as you have done. You're an absolute little _brick_,--if you'll excuse the phrase. But it makes a fellow--it makes _me_ more ashamed of myself than I've often been in my life before."
"Oh, I've been having hard times too," explained Bob, gloomily. "But I haven't been so plucky as you. I've minded them more."