"Bad news?" suggested Miss Jane.

"Very bad indeed--could not be worse. He heard he'd lost every penny
he possessed in the wide world."

"Great patience!" ejaculated Miss Tebbs; "you don't say so; but how?"

"Well, you know he was always comfortably off; indeed, one might say
rich."

"That's true! They keep five maids indoors, and a charwoman three
times a week, two men and a boy in the garden, and two men in the
stables," glibly enumerated Miss Jane. "All that is not done on small
means, and I happen to know that Mr. Shafto himself paid everything
monthly--which is more than we can say for his wife; even her bridge
losses"; here she halted on the brink of scandal.

After hesitating for a second, Mrs. Billing continued:

"Well, it appears, from what my husband can gather, that Mr. Shafto
trusted all his money and investments to a man who had managed his
affairs for years, and in whom he had the most absolute confidence; he
just drew his income regularly, lived his quiet life, and never
troubled his head about business. It seems that for a considerable
time this agent had been speculating with his clients' capital, and
paying them the interest to the day. He staved off the reckoning by
every possible device, and when he could no longer hide his wickedness,
when liabilities poured in, and proceedings were instituted, he shot
himself! Not much comfort in that for the families he has beggared. I
believe he had a splendid establishment at Hampstead; greenhouses,