She was scarcely less surprised at his reply.
"I never ask a man twice to call on me, Mr.Stirling," she said, with a slight hauteur in her voice.
"I'm sorry for that," said Peter quietly.
Miss De Voe caught her breath again.

"Good-afternoon," she said, holding out her hand.

"I shall hope to see you." "Good-bye," said Peter, and the next moment was walking towards his office.
Miss De Voe stood for a moment thinking.

"That was curious," she thought, "I wonder if he intends to come ?" The next evening she was dining with relatives in one of the fashionable summering places, and was telling them about her call "from Mr.
Stirling, the lawyer who made that splendid speech." "I thought," she said, "when I received the message, that I was going to be buried under a bathos of thanks, or else have my gift declined with the expectation that I would gush over the disinterestedness of the refusal.

Since I couldn't well avoid seeing him, I was quite prepared to snub him, or to take back the money without a word.