"Ursula Harbord, for instance," said Hughie drily. "Yes. How did you know?" "She delivered a lecture to me this morning. Gave me to understand that she darkly suspects me of being a knave, and made no attempt to conceal her conviction that I am a fool." "Well, of course that's all nonsense," said Mrs. Leroy to a fly on the window-pane; "but really, Hughie, with all the money that her Uncle Jimmy left her, you ought to be able to give Joey more than you do, _shouldn't_ you? The child has to live in quite a small way--not really poor, you know, but hardly as an heiress ought to live. You give her surprisingly small interest on her money, Jack says--didn't you, Jack?" Captain Leroy made no reply, but the deep shade of carmine on the back of his neck said "Sneak!" as plainly as possible. "And you know he would be the last to say anything against you--wouldn't you, Jack?" "Rather!" said Leroy, in a voice of thunder. "Hughie," said Mrs. Leroy, turning impulsively, "won't you confide in me?" Hughie kicked a coal in the grate in his usual fashion, and sighed. "I can't, _really_," he said. "Fact is, old man," broke in Leroy, in response to his wife's appealing glances, "we didn't want to say anything at all, but the missis thought it best--considerin' the way people are talkin', and all that. Can _I_ be of any use? Been speculatin', or anything?" "No, Jack, I haven't," said Hughie shortly. Mrs. Leroy gave a helpless look at her husband, and said desperately: "But, Hughie, we can't leave things like this! You simply don't _know_ what stories are going about. It is ruining your chances with Joey, too. She thinks you are a noodle." "I know it," said Hughie. "Well, look here," said Leroy, "can't you give us some sort of explanation--some yarn we could put about the place to account for this state of things--" "What state of things?" said Hughie doggedly. He was in an unpleasant temper. "Well, Hughie," said Mrs. Leroy, keeping hers, "here is Joan, known to have been left a lot of money for her immediate use,--she admits it herself,--living quite humbly and cheaply, and obviously not well off. People are asking why. There are two explanations given. One, the more popular, is that you have embezzled or speculated the money all away. The other, which prevails among the _élite_--" "The people who are really in the know, you know," explained Leroy. "Yes: _they_ say," continued his wife, "that Joan won't marry you, so you have retaliated by--by--" "By cutting off supplies," suggested Hughie. "Yes, until--" "Until she is starved into submission--eh?" "That's about the size of it, old son," said Leroy. There was a long pause. Finally Hughie said:-- "Well, it's a pretty story; but, honestly, I'm not in a position to contradict it at present." Mrs. Leroy desisted from plaiting the window-cord, swung round, walked deliberately to the fireplace, and laid a hand on Hughie's arm.