He spoke soberly, and I had observed that when he dropped his chaff a note of melancholy crept into his talk. He folded his arms and went on: "She's a wonderful girl, Donovan. There's no other girl like her in all the wide world. I tell you it's hard for a girl like that to be in her position--the whole family broken up, and that contemptible father of hers hanging about with his schemes of plunder. It's pitiful, Donovan; it's pitiful!" "It's a cheerless mess. It all came after the bank failure, I suppose." "Practically, though the brothers never got on. You see my governor was bit by their bank failure; and Miss Pat resented the fact that he backed off when stung. But the Gillespies take their medicine; father never squealed, which makes me sore that your Aunt Pat gives me the icy eye." "Their affairs are certainly mixed," I remarked non-committally. "They are indeed; and I have studied the whole business until my near mind is mussed up, like scrambled eggs. Your own pretty idyl of the nunnery garden adds the note _piquante_. Cross my palm with gold and I'll tell you of strange things that lie in the future. I have an idea, Donovan; singular though it seem, I've a notion in my head." "Keep it," I retorted, "to prevent a cranial vacuum." "Crushed! Absolutely crushed!" he replied gloomily. "Kick me. I'm only the host." We were silent while the few sounds of the village street droned in. He rose and paced the floor to shake off his mood, and when he sat down he seemed in better spirits. "Holbrook will undoubtedly return," I said. "Yes; there's no manner of doubt about that!" "And then there will be more trouble." "Of course." "But I suppose there's no guessing when he will come back." "He will come back as soon as he's spent his money." I felt a delicacy about referring to that transaction on the pier. It was a wretched business, and I now realized that the shame of it was not lost on Gillespie. "How does Henry come to have that Italian scoundrel with him?" I asked after a pause. "He's the skipper of the _Stiletto_," Gillespie replied readily. "He's a long way from tide-water," I remarked. "A blackguard of just his sort once sailed me around the Italian peninsula in a felucca, and saved me from drowning on the way. His heroism was not, however, wholly disinterested. When we got back to Naples he robbed me of my watch and money-belt and I profited by the transaction, having intended to give him double their value. But there are plenty of farm-boys around the lake who could handle the _Stiletto_. Henry didn't need a dago expert." The mention of the Italian clearly troubled Gillespie. After a moment he said: "He may be holding on to Henry instead of Henry's holding on to him. Do you see?" "No; I don't."