"Yes. I'll tell you what I know. Wallace saw Gerald in London--he told us
that--and we all know that Gerald couldn't pay his debts a little while
ago. You remember he came down to Kendall and went on and stayed the next
night with the Claytons. It isn't astonishing that he didn't come here,
after the row there was on the last occasion."

"Go on," prompted Evelyn impatiently. "What has his visit to the
Clayton's to do with it?"

"Well, you don't know that I saw Gerald in the afternoon. After all, he's
the only brother I've got; and as Jim was going to the station with the
trap I made him take me. The Claytons were in the garden; we were
scattered about, and I heard Frank and Gerald, who had strolled off from
the others, talking. Gerald was telling him about some things he'd
bought--they must have been expensive, because Frank asked him where he
got the money. Gerald laughed and said he'd had an unexpected stroke of
luck that had set him straight again. Now, of course Gerald got no money
from home, and if he'd won it he would have told Frank how he did so.
Gerald always would tell a thing like that."

Evelyn was filled with confusion and hot indignation. She had little
doubt that Mabel's surmise was correct.

"I wonder whether he has told anybody; though it's scarcely likely."

Mabel laughed.

"Of course he hasn't. We all know what Gerald is. Before I came home, I
asked him what he thought of Wallace. He said he was a good sort, or
something like that, and I saw that he had a reason for saying it; but