He leaned a little forward and hid his own
face with the palm of his hand. When at last she looked up her
face had cleared and her tone was less bitter. It would have gone
very hard with the Earl of Eastchester, however, if he had called
to see his niece just then.
"Well," she said, "I want to know now why, after keeping silent all
this time, you thought it best to tell me the truth this afternoon?"
"Because," he answered, "you told me that you had just been to see
Scarlett Trent!"
"And what on earth had that to do with it?"
"Because Scarlett Trent was with your father when he died. They
were on an excursion somewhere up in the bush - the very excursion
that laid the foundation of Trent's fortune."
"Go on," she cried. "Tell me all that you know! this is wonderful!"
"Well, I am glad to tell you this at any rate," he said. "I always
liked your father and I saw him off when he left England, and have
written to him often since. I believe I was his only correspondent
in this country, except his solicitors. He had a very adventurous
and, I am afraid, not a very happy time. He never wrote cheerfully,
and he mortgaged the greater part of his income. I don't blame him
for anything he did. A man needs some responsibility, or some one
dependent upon him to keep straight.
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