"Yours—for the time being."
Handsome scowled.
"It isn't so easy as I thought," he replied. "I don't know if she suspects something's wrong or not, but ever since that evening she was called to Philadelphia she avoids me like the pest. I can see in her face that she's puzzled. 'It's my husband, and yet not my husband'—that's what she's thinking all the time. I can guess her thoughts by the expression on her face."
Keralio shrugged his shoulders.
"That's your own fault. I gave you the opportunity. You failed to profit by it. You got drunk the first night you arrived. Kenneth Traynor was a temperate man. Is it no wonder you excited wonder and talk? Then you were stupid under questioning and gave equivocal answers. Your explanation to Parker about the diamonds was more than unfortunate; it was idiotic. His suspicions were at once aroused. He may yet give us trouble before we have time to get rid of the stones. Finding the wife eluded you, you began to stay out late at night. You caroused, you drank hard, you gambled—all of which follies your brother never committed. In other words, you are a fool."
The miner pointed to the diamonds which still lay on the table. Sulkily he asked:
"Is that all you wanted?"
Keralio put the gems away in his pocket, and pointed to the stacks of newly printed counterfeit money that lay in stacks all over the floor.
"No, you can help me make up bundles of this stuff."
Handsome opened wide his eyes at sight of the crisp currency. Greedily he exclaimed: