‘Not at all; easy enough. Vandewater told the doctor, and the doctor told Brown; so now I have betrayed all the three. You see it is authentic. The girl has confessed her love to Vandewater himself.’
‘To Vandewater?’
‘Yes, why not?’
‘She must be in earnest, then. She loves me beyond a doubt.’
‘She has loved you many months, now Monteagle is a chance—’
‘She loved me many months! But—’
‘Fact, sir, fact? She confessed it to Vandewater, who tried to persuade her to conquer her passion.’
The youth started to his feet.
‘I’m much obliged to him. He try to—he interfere in a case of this kind.—But that exceeds his authority.’
‘Tut! tut! work your cards right and the girl is yours, and then Vandewater’s fortune, you know—’