"But that don't alter what is.

You're a good man, and, what's more, a man of substance, which is better than can be said for old Colonel Elliot, with one foot in the grave, so to speak, and up to his eyes in debt.

He owes money all over the place, I'm told, and the place is mortgaged for three times its proper value.

His wife has a little of her own, so they say; but this poor young lady as was here this morning, she'll be thrown on the world without a penny to her name.

A winsome young lady, too, Master Jeff.