“And how unreasonable,” Cybil added. “Please sit down, Mr. Waterson. I can see you’ve had a difficult time of it.”

“It will be worth every second of aggravation if I can accomplish my goal of opening a refuge for young ladies, but sometimes I do lose heart.”

“You poor man,” Zelda said, causing Cybil to bite her lip to keep from grinning. “I do so wish we could help.”

“I do, too. I know it will be some time before you receive your inheritance, Miss Miles, but you did indicate to me that you and Miss Goodnight would be able to draw on your personal funds in the meantime to finance the purchase of the house. That would at least get us started and we wouldn’t lose this golden opportunity to get a home in such a perfect location.”

Cybil and Zelda exchanged a troubled glance.

“I did tell you that, Mr. Waterson, and it is true that Zelda and I have sufficient funds to do just that, but when I consulted my attorney about doing so, he strongly advised against it.”

Mr. Waterson’s smile was really strained now. “I wonder that you felt the need to consult your attorney on this matter.”

“I had to, because of the inheritance,” Cybil quickly explained. “I wanted to be sure we weren’t endangering our future security, you see. We are two maiden ladies without a man to support us. We have lived frugally so that we could save enough to live on when we are too old to teach any longer, and I wanted to consult with my attorney before I turned those funds over to you.”

“Yes,” Zelda added enthusiastically. “It would never do if we helped you purchase the house and then found ourselves homeless someday because of it.”

Mr. Waterson didn’t like this one bit, but he was putting a good face on it. “I don’t really think—”

“So naturally I consulted my attorney,” Cybil continued, ignoring his interruption, “and he informed me that there is no guarantee I will actually receive my uncle’s money. The court might very well decide in my cousin’s favor, leaving me without a cent.”

“And if we had given all of our savings to you to buy the house,” Zelda added, “well, I’m sure you can see how unfortunate that would be for us.”

“Yes, but—”

“And Mr. Bates absolutely forbade me to touch my savings for such a risky venture,” Cybil concluded.

Waterson’s strained smile disappeared completely. “Did you say Bates?”

“Yes, Mr. Bates. My attorney. He’s a young man, but I trust him completely. His firm has represented our family for . . . Oh, I couldn’t even say how long.” She could, of course, but it hadn’t been very long at all.

“Bates,” he muttered.