And let him be assured that she never
for a moment forgot her lifelong debt to him.
This last sentence referred, no doubt, to her mother's letters. Dr.
Derwent, it seemed, would make no acknowledgment of the service
rendered him by a brother of the man whom he must regard as a
pitiful scoundrel. How abhorred by him must be the name of Otway!
And could it be less hateful to his daughter, to Irene?
The days passed. A pleasant surprise broke the monotony of work and
worry when, one afternoon, the office-boy handed in a card bearing
the name Korolevitch. The Russian was spending a week in London, and
Otway saw him several times; on one occasion they sat talking
together till three in the morning. To Piers this intercourse
brought vast mental relief, and gave him an intellectual impulse of
which he had serious need in his life of solitude, ever tending to
despondency. Korolevitch, on leaving England, volunteered to call
upon Moncharmont at Odessa. He had wool to sell, and why not sell it
to his friends? But he, as well as Piers, looked for profit of
another kind from this happy acquaintance.
It was not long. before Otway made another call upon Miss
Bonnicastle, and at this time, as he had hoped, he found her alone,
working. He led their talk to the subject of Kite.
"You ought to go and see him in his garret," said Miss Bonnicastle.
"He'd like you to."
"Tell me, if you know," threw out the other, looking into her broad,
good-natured face.
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