CHAPTER XX
THE VANQUISHED
When Colonel and Mrs. Lewknor called at the Manor-house a few days later, Mrs. Trupp told them what had happened.
"Burt paid her rent?" queried the Colonel.
"Without her knowledge," said Mrs. Trupp.
The Colonel shrugged.
"I'm afraid our friend Ernie's a poor creature," he said. "Wishy-washy! That's about the long and short of it."
"And yet he's got it in him!" commented Mrs. Trupp.
"That's what I say," remarked Mrs. Lewknor with a touch of aggressiveness. The little lady, with the fine loyalty that was her characteristic, never forgot whose son Ernie was, nor her first meeting with him years before in hospital at Jubbulpur. "He's got plenty in him; but she don't dig it out."
"He got a good fright though, this time," said Bess. "It may steady him."
Mr. Trupp shot forth one of his short epigrams, solid and chunky as a blow from a hammer.