They sat alone, knees together, talking of the present and the past. Sir Simon had never been very fond of his brother-in-law; but to see him alive, after so long a period of no news, was a great relief; and he gave him a cordial welcome. Mr. Trace spoke of his unfortunate losses in the United States, but did not go into details; at least, into details that Sir Simon could make much of. The great scheme, about which he had been so sanguine, had failed, miserably failed, almost before it was organized: and the thousand pounds, so generously sent out to him by Sir Simon, had been swallowed in the vortex, together with his own funds. After that, he had gone to New York, trying, trying ever since, to redeem his position. He could not do it, and had now come home to Europe, penniless. "I thought that Boston affair was a good one, or I should not have sent the money out," observed Sir Simon. "How came it to fail?" "Mismanagement partly; partly ill-luck," was the answer of Mr. Trace, curtly delivered. "Not your mismanagement, surely?" cried Sir Simon, who had the highest opinion of his brother-in-law as a business man. "Mismanagement altogether. It was a great deal that Hopper's fault. I was a fool ever to have made him secretary to the affair, or to give him power," added Mr. Trace, with unmistakable animus. "Set a beggar on horseback and we know where he'll ride." "What Hopper?" asked Sir Simon, struck with the name. "What Hopper?" was the tart retort, as if Sir Simon's question were superfluous—as indeed the hearer thought it. Mr. Trace had never been a good-tempered man. "Surely you don't mean the young man who was clerk to you in Liverpool!" cried Sir Simon. "What took him to America?" Robert Trace raised his eyes from their moody stare on the ground and glanced at his brother-in-law. "You knew Hopper was at Boston with me!" "Not I. How should I know it? I have never heard of the young man from the time of the break-up at Liverpool." A minute's perplexed gaze, and then Robert Trace dropped his eyes again. He had made a false move. But that he had supposed Sir Simon knew of his ex-clerk's presence in America, he had certainly not mentioned him. "Hopper told me, more than once, that he wrote to you from Boston, Simon." "He never did—to my knowledge. What took him out there?" "I don't know"—and Mr. Trace's tone changed to quiet civility, the same tone that used to strike on Sir Simon's ear with a false ring. "He walked into the office one morning in Boston, to my great surprise, and asked me if I could help him to employment. It happened that I had been wishing for a clever secretary, or sub-manager, under myself, an Englishman if I could get him; and I put Hopper in the place. He was sharp, intelligent, up to the work, and had served us well in Liverpool." "And by way of rewarding you, he made ducks and drakes of your money and mine!"