My lady rose from her seat with an air of almost tragical dignity.
"My son in prison!" she cried; "I cannot believe it. What has come over him? Can you explain the mystery to me, Mr. Forster?"
"I cannot—the only thing that occurs to me is that he has gone to this count's room for some purpose that he will confide to no one, and that he has taken the watch in his hands and was discovered with it. He asked me to tell you that the honor of the Carruthers sealed his lips."
"Did he say that—my Basil, Mr. Forster? If that be the case, rest assured—although I blush to say it—there is a woman in it. I can imagine Basil capable of suffering anything from a mistaken motive of chivalry. Do you know with whom Mr. Carruthers has chiefly associated since he has been in town?"
"I do not. I know that he has been in a very fast and fashionable set; he told me as much; also that he has spent a good deal of money. One check for three thousand pounds vanished in a day, and he gave no account of it."
"Three thousand pounds!" cried Lady Carruthers; "yet he neither drank, betted nor gambled."
"No," said the lawyer; "Mr. Carruthers told me he had never touched a card and never would. I know he did not care for betting."
The proud, anxious mother raised her eyes to the lawyer's face. "How, then, do you think he has got through it?"
"I cannot tell. You must pardon me, my lady, if I remind you that although I am family solicitor, agent and manager of the property, I am not the guardian of your son."
"I know," she said, clasping her hands. "I little thought he would ever need a guardian; he seemed all that was honorable and upright. I cannot imagine what has changed him. I regret so bitterly that I let him go to London alone."