“Oh, general irritation with his spinelessness and low tastes, plus a crisis. They made use of that crisis. Matter of fact, he stole.” “Stole! But could Miss Heloise have anything to do with a thief?” “Oh, but a plausible thief,” snapped the little lawyer. “What he stole, he said, was his. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t, and he knew it. It was a picture, an Old Master, belonging to his family. Family had died up to its ears in debt—for which his own bad habits were mainly responsible. Everything had been sold to settle those debts. He knew that all right. But he stole that picture, sold it, and went on the spree with the proceeds. There you get the type of man he is in a nutshell.” “That doesn’t explain Miss Reys’ attitude.” [Pg 24] [Pg 24] “Oh, he made a case. Said he thought he’d taken only what was his own. He bought her a silly little trinket, too, and made her believe he had sold the picture to get that. Absurd. But she was woefully young. She has a generous heart, and she was on the side of the scamp in affection. Well, that’s the beginning. He left her with the usual vows. He’d been unlucky. He had an unlucky nature, so he told her; but he was going to the great and grand New World to carve out a fortune for her. He would return, like the hero in a story, rich and powerful, and all because of her—all for her.” “Well, what’s next. Has he made that fortune?” “Not a bit of it. He’s the sort that doesn’t. Hasn’t the guts or the honesty. I don’t know what he’s done in the ten years he’s been away; nobody knows. I suspect a mountain of beastliness. But one thing I know. He hasn’t made that fortune.” “You’re sure?” “My dear lad, isn’t that why she’s going out? Oh, of course, I’m running on too fast. Well, that is the reason, anyhow. First year or two there were plenty of letters. Then the letters dropped away. His were sloppy and disconsolate, I gather. He was the unlucky sort even in Canada, he let her know. Of course he was. Then the letters stopped altogether. For years nothing was[Pg 25] heard of him. Things went on with Heloise ever so much better. I thought she’d forgotten the ass. Then, quite suddenly, the whole of this business started again. Came at us, as it were, out of the blue.” [Pg 25] “And
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