“As that correspondence proceeded, it was apparent that he was prospering greatly. I was not surprised at that, for he had plenty of brains, and if he chose to employ them in a right direction, I saw no reason why he should not succeed. Mrs. Barnard’s husband had died, leaving her a small annuity which, joined to what my father had bequeathed her, formed a modest competence. Howard had pressed her to make her home with him, as he was a bachelor. He would not accept a penny from her towards the housekeeping; her own small income she was to look upon as pin-money.” At this point in the history of his renewed relations with his brother, Jasper Stormont confessed that Howard’s generous treatment of his sister had strongly impressed him in his favour. It was more than probable that that early lesson had sunk into his soul, and he had really undergone a process of complete moral regeneration. And then had come the request to adopt Gloria, and make her welfare one of the principal objects of his life. That further established him in the good graces of a brother who was disposed to be critical. Criminal as he had been, there were some good instincts in him, and these he had displayed to the full in the case of these two members of his family. “It will be a terrible shock to Gloria when she is told, as told she must be,” said the banker. “She is a shrewd girl and you can see she has a sort of pitying contempt for some of his weaknesses, his extravagance, his vulgar love of ostentation. But she realizes he has shown unexampled kindness to her; if she could be spoiled, he has done his best to spoil her. I wish I could spare her sensitive nature the shock, but that cannot be. She must never go back to that man’s roof. So far as my influence goes, she must hold no further communication with him. The money he has spent on her during these several years I shall refund to him. As I doubt if he will be in a position to dictate terms, I may make it a condition that he shall cut away from his evil associates. Heaven knows if he would keep such a promise. I fear the spirit of evil is too strong in his crooked nature.” For some little time the banker sat in agitated meditation. Then he suddenly roused himself from his painful thoughts and spoke again. “I feel as if my own small world had tumbled about my ears, Leonard; you will understand that. There is one thing we have got to face first and foremost as a consequence of this hideous discovery. Gloria cannot become your wife.” The young man looked at him in astonishment. “But, my dear Mr. Stormont, in the name of justice, why? Do you think me such a cur as to visit the crimes of her relative upon a pure and innocent girl? Gloria has promised herself to me. Depend upon it I shall exact that promise.”