CHAPTER IV.
CASTLES IN THE AIR.
That evening, a little shamefacedly, Miss
Semaphore told Prudence how she had
answered the advertisement in The Pictorial,
and received a reply from Mrs. Geldheraus.
Prudence was vary much surprised and delighted, being in one of her rare spasms of remembrance that she no longer was a girl. She expressed herself as not only willing but ready and anxious to help in raising half of the money required, if the explorer's widow persisted in demanding a thousand pounds.
The sisters resolved, however, that Miss Augusta should endeavour to persuade her to accept £600, advancing to £800, and only paying the full sum if she remained obdurate. They decided, too, that despite her excellent references, it would be only judicious to post-*date the cheque offered her, that they might have an opportunity of personally testing the
