"And that isn't all," went on Young. "Larch is going to come a cropper, if I'm any judge."
"What do you mean?" Again the Colonel seemed puzzled.
"I mean he's going to smash financially. He's been making some poor investments of late, as well as gambling heavily, and his money can't last forever. He had a lot, but most of it is gone."
"I hadn't heard that."
"Well, it's true. He was well off when he married. That's the reason he got such a pretty wife, I hear. Her folks were ambitious for her. Well, she did shine for a while, for the Homestead was not an ordinary hotel. It was more of a Colchester institution. But it's fast becoming something else now.
"Larch is being pressed for cash, and that may be one reason why he's so thick with Harry King. King's got cash, if it can only be gotten at. I overheard Larch sounding him as to the chances of raising a big sum."
"And what did King say?"
"He agreed to try to get it for Larch. That's all I gathered then.
But I heard them talking of something else."
"What?"
"Larch dropped a hint that he and his wife might be reconciled."