“I wonder you do!” said the girl at last; her voice broke as she added, “after Monte Carlo.”
“Well, yes; I admit that that was pretty bad, and quite bowled me over; but Mrs. Ramsay explained—she has been a good friend to me.”
“I did not know you had a sister,” continued Aurea, with a sort of sob.
“You knew nothing about me, and now you shall hear everything;” and in a few hurried sentences he told her of India, Canterbury, and the bill, his debts, of the City office, and the ranch.
“You see, Uncle Dick’s patience was fairly worn out, and, honestly, I don’t wonder. I was always coming back on his hands; so he gave me the two years’ sentence to earn my own bread, and be independent. I’m an awful duffer in many ways, and I talked it over with Leila—my sister, you know. I had to make a start at once, for one thing, and I’d no chance of any good billet—everything now is examinations, or capital. I suggested enlisting or breaking horses, but she put forward the chauffeur scheme; it was rather a crazy idea, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know. You were a capital driver—even Bertie Woolcock allowed that!”
“Well, anyway, Leila foisted me on your aunts—it was pretty cool, I’ll admit—and just at first—I—well—I felt I couldn’t stand it. I’d had a fairly rough time in the Argentine—it wasn’t that—but——”
“I know,” she broke in, “it was Aunt Bella.”
“I was not used to old ladies, and she was so—er—peculiar; I believe, to the last, she thought I sold or drank the petrol. Well, I’d made up my mind to clear out, and then—I saw you, and I decided to hold on—yes, like grim death. It was a lucky day for me when you came to the Manor—otherwise, I’d have gone away, and no doubt drifted about, and become a regular slacker; but you held me fast. I settled down, I made the best of the job, and took everything as it came in the day’s work—for your sake.”
Aurea nodded.