"Well, when I took on the job bequeathed to me by you of administering Joan's affairs, I discovered that instead of being an heiress, the child was practically penniless. For some idiotic reason best known to yourself, you no sooner put money into the bank for her than you dragged it all out again. Consequently I discovered that I was booked to manage the affairs of a girl whom everybody thought to be the possessor of pots of money, but whose entire capital"--he picked up the pass-book--"amounted in reality to one hundred pounds sterling." "Correct!" said Jimmy Marrable. "Proceed!" "If," continued Hughie in an even and businesslike tone, "Joan had been prepared to marry me, the money wouldn't have mattered, as she could have had mine. Unfortunately that event did not occur." "Did she know she hadn't any money when you asked her to marry you?" enquired Jimmy Marrable. "No." "And did she go on refusing you after you had informed her she was a pauper?" Hughie had seen this question coming from afar. He turned a delicate carmine. His uncle surveyed him, and nodded comprehendingly. "Quite so!" he said. "Quite so! You never told her." "No," said Hughie, "I hadn't the heart. It seemed like--like trying to coerce her into marrying me. No, I just let her imagine that she had a tidy little fortune invested, and that she could live on the interest--three hundred a year. I--I found that sum for her, and she took it all right. After all, she was a woman, and women will swallow almost anything you tell them about money matters. If they jib at all, all you have to do is to surround yourself with a cloud of technicalities, and they cave in at once. I think Joey was a _little_ surprised at not getting more, for she had thought herself a bit of an heiress; but she never said a word. In fact, she was so kind about it that I saw she was convinced I had made a mess of things somewhere, and must be protected accordingly. She put it all down to my usual incompetence, I suppose,--as far as I can see, she considers me a born fool,--and accepted the situation loyally." "She would do that," said Jimmy Marrable. "Well," continued Hughie, "Joan was all right, but everybody else was the devil. An awful girl friend of hers, called Harbord--" "I know--twelve per cent!" gurgled Jimmy Marrable.