"Is it because he thought Mr. Devar no fit friend for yourself, Miss Gayerson?" Isabella laughed derisively before she did me another wrong. "He does not trouble about me or my affairs," she answered. "No, it is because Mr. Devar is too clever a person to be a welcome observer of Dick's actions. Dick probably knows that Mr. Devar is an expert in money matters, and less easy to deceive than yourself and a few ignorant and trusting women." "You mean in the matter of my fortune?" "Yes," replied the friend of my childhood. "It is probable that Mr. Devar suspects what others suspect. But you are so simple, Monsieur Giraud!" Alphonse shrugged his shoulders. "It is not that--Mademoiselle," he said with his light laugh. "It is that I am a fool." Isabella was not looking at him, but at her quiet hands clasped together on her lap. "We all know," she said, "that Dick is supplying Madame de Clericy with money that does not come from her estates. Whence does it come?" "You suggest," said Alphonse, "that Howard has recovered my money and is supporting Madame de Clericy and Lucille with it." What answer Isabella would have made to this I know not, for it was at this moment that the servant threw open the door and ushered me into a silence which was significant even to one of no very quick understanding. I saw that Alphonse Giraud was agitated and caught a singular gleam in Isabella's eyes. I suppose she was one of those women who take pleasure in stirring up strife between men. Her cheeks had a faint pink flush on them that made her suddenly beautiful. I had never noticed her looks before. It was Alphonse who spoke first. "There are several points, Monsieur," he said, angrily, "upon which I demand an explanation." "All right--but I am not going to quarrel with you, Giraud." I looked very straight at Isabella, whose eyes, however, did not fall under mine. But I think she knew that I blamed her for this. "You have insulted a friend of Miss Gayerson's." "A matter," was my reply, "which rests between Miss Gayerson and myself. I have rid her house of a scoundrel--that is all." I thought Isabella was going to speak, but she closed her pale lips again and glanced at Alphonse. "You have been supplying Madame de Clericy with money during the last six months?" said he.--"Yes." "Your own money?"--"Most certainly"--and I was soft-hearted enough to omit reminding him that he owed me a thousand francs. "You have repeatedly told me," pursued Alphonse, who seemed to be nursing his anger into an artificial life, "that you are penniless. Whence comes this money?" "I borrowed it." "And if Madame de Clericy fails to repay you, you will be ruined?" "Precisely." "And you ask me to believe that," laughed Giraud, scornfully. "No," answered I, going towards the door, for my temper was rising, and there remained but that way of avoiding a quarrel. "You may do as you like."