My good old friend and master had died suddenly. To add to the bitterness of that affliction, he had died in debt to a dear and intimate friend. For his daughter's sake he had endeavored to add to his little savings by speculating with borrowed money on the Stock Exchange. He had failed, and the loan advanced had not been repaid, when a fit of apoplexy struck him down. Offered the opportunity of trying her fortune on the operatic stage, Jeanne made the attempt, and was now nobly employed in earning the money to pay her father's debt.
"It was the only way in which I could do justice to his memory,"she said, simply. "I hope you don't object to my going on the stage?"I took her hand, poor child--and let that simple action answer for me. I was too deeply affected to be able to speak.
