Part 62 (1/2)

I feel rather badly hit; you won't mind if I go out and walk about a little?”

Mrs. Lansing was glad to let him go; the sight of his hard-set face hurt her. In another minute he was walking up and down the terrace, but he stopped presently and leaned on the low wall. Hitherto he had believed in Sylvia with an unshaken faith, but now a flood of suspicion poured in on him; above all, there was the telling fact that as soon as he had gone, she had begun to lead on his rival. The shock he had suffered had brought George illumination. Sylvia could never have had an atom of affection for him; she had merely made his loyalty serve her turn. She had done so even before she married d.i.c.k Marston; though he had somehow retained his confidence in her then. He had been a fool from the beginning!

The intense bitterness of which he was conscious was wholly new to him, but it was comprehensible. Just in all his dealings, he expected honesty from others, and, though generous in many ways, he had not Bland's tolerant nature; he looked for more than the latter and had less charity. There was a vein of hardness in the man who had loved Sylvia largely because he believed in her. Trickery and falseness were abhorrent to him, and now the woman he had wors.h.i.+ped stood revealed in her deterrent reality.

After a while he pulled himself together, and, going back to the house, entered Herbert's library where, less because of his interest in the matter than as a relief from painful thoughts, he opened the envelope given him and took out the statement. For a few moments the figures puzzled him, and then he broke into a bitter laugh. The money that he had entrusted to his cousin's care had melted away.

During the next two or three minutes he leaned back, motionless, in his chair; then he took up a pencil and lighted a cigar. Since he was ruined, he might as well ascertain how it had happened, and two facts became obvious from his study of the doc.u.ment: Herbert had sold sound securities, and had mortgaged land; and then placed the proceeds in rubber shares. This was perhaps permissible, but it did not explain what had induced an astute business man to hold the shares until they had fallen to their remarkably low value. There was a mystery here, and George in his present mood was keenly suspicious. He had no doubt that Herbert had left the statement because it would save him the unpleasantness of giving a personal explanation; moreover, George believed that he had left home with that purpose. Then he made a few rough calculations, which seemed to prove that enough remained to buy and stock a farm in western Canada. This was something, though it did not strike him as a matter of much consequence, and he listlessly smoked out his cigar. Then he rose and rejoined Mrs. Lansing.

”If you don't mind, I'll go over to Wests' to-morrow,” he said. ”They pressed me to spend some time with them, and there are arrangements to be made on which they want my opinion. Edgar is taking up land in Canada.”

Mrs. Lansing looked troubled.

”Was there anything disturbing in the paper Herbert gave me for you?

He doesn't tell me much about his business, but I gathered that he was vexed about some shares he bought on your account. I should be sorry if they have gone down.”

”You would hardly understand; the thing's a little complicated,” George said with rea.s.suring gentleness. ”I'm afraid I have lost some money; but, after all, it isn't my worst misfortune. I'll have a talk with Herbert as soon as he comes home.”

He left Brantholme the next morning and was received by Ethel when he arrived at Wests'.

”We have been expecting you,” she said cordially.

”Then you know?”

”Yes. I'm very sorry; but I suppose it will hardly bear talking about.

Stephen is waiting for you; he's taking a day off and Edgar's friend, Singleton, arrives to-night.”

Singleton duly made his appearance, but he was not present when George and Stephen West sat down for a talk after dinner in the latter's smoking-room. Presently George took out the statement and handed it to his host.

”I want advice badly and I can't go to an outsider for it,” he said.

”I feel quite safe in confiding in you.”

West studied the doc.u.ment for a while before he looked up.

”The main point to be decided is--whether you should sell these shares at once for what they will bring, or wait a little? With your permission, we'll ask Singleton; he knows more about the matter than anybody else.”

Singleton came in and lighted a cigar, and then listened carefully, with a curious little smile, while West supplied a few explanations.

”Hold on to these shares, even if you have to make a sacrifice to do so,” he advised.

”But they seem to be almost worthless,” George objected.

”Perhaps I had better go into the matter fully,” said Singleton. ”I'll do so on the understanding that what I'm about to tell you reaches n.o.body else.”

George looked at West, who nodded.

”Well,” explained Singleton, ”I've come over on a flying visit about this rubber business. The original company--the one in which you hold shares--was got up mainly with the idea of profiting by the rather reckless general buying of such stock. Its tropical possessions were badly managed, though a little good rubber was s.h.i.+pped, and when prices reached their highest point Mr. Lansing sold out.”

”If he had sold my shares at the same time, there should have been a satisfactory margin?”