he must go on in his patronizing style that Wallace was rather
Colonial, though he hadn't drifted too far--not beyond reclamation.
After all, Wallace was one of--us--before he went out; and if Carroll's
Colonial he's the kind of man I like. I was so angry with Gerald I
wanted to slap him!"

There was no doubt that Mabel was a staunch partizan, and Evelyn
sympathized with her. She was, of course, acquainted with her brother's
character, and she was filled with indignant contempt for him. It was
intolerable that he should have allowed Vane to discharge his debts and
then have alluded to him in terms of indulgent condescension.

"It strikes me Wallace ought to get his money back, now that you have
sent him away," Mabel added. "But of course that's most unlikely. It
wouldn't take Gerald long to waste it."

Evelyn rose and, making some excuse, left the room. She could feel her
face growing hot, and Mabel had unusually keen eyes and precocious powers
of deduction. A suspicion which had troubled her more than Gerald's
conduct had lately crept into her mind, and it now thrust itself upon her
attention; several things pointed to the fact that her father had taken
the same course her brother had done. She felt that had she heard Mabel's
information before the interview with Vane, she might have yielded to him
in an agony of humiliation. Mabel had summed up the situation with
stinging candor and crudity--Vane, who had been defrauded, was entitled
to recover his money. For a few moments Evelyn was furiously angry with
him, and then, growing calmer, she recognized that this was unreasonable.
She could not imagine any idea of a compact originating with the man, and
he had quietly acquiesced in her decision.