The chill evening air bit into Delly and her mother, Jeki, as they stood shivering on the sidewalk, the brief warmth of their relatives' apartment already a distant memory. Rejection hung around them like a shroud.

Jeki, her face sharp with desperation, grabbed her daughter’s arm. "If Linsy won't help you, then we go to Michael Helwart himself! He has more money than he could spend in a lifetime. A hundred thousand is nothing to him!"

Delly recoiled, pulling her arm back. "No, Mother! ...