“I do not know,” she replied. “Soon I must go to the lawyers and ask for advice. I have very little more money left. I have written several times to New York to you, to his friends, but I have had no answer. After all, Jerry, I am his wife. No one liked my marrying him, but I am his wife. I have a right to a share of his property if he is dead. If he has deserted me, surely I shall be allowed something. I do not even know how rich he was.”
The man at her side smiled.
“Much better off than I ever was,” he declared. “But, Elizabeth!”
“Well?”
“There were rumors that, before you left New York, Wenham converted very large sums of money into letters of credit and bonds, very large sums indeed.” She shook her head. “He had a letter of credit for about a thousand pounds, I think,” she said. “There is very little left of the money he had with him.”
“And you find living here expensive, I dare say?”
“Very expensive indeed,” she agreed, with a sigh. “I have been looking forward to seeing you, Jerry. I thought, perhaps, for the sake of old times you might advise me.”
“Of old times,” he repeated to himself softly. “Elizabeth, do you think of them sometimes?”
She was becoming more herself. This was a game she was used to playing. Of old times, indeed! It seemed only yesterday that these two brothers, who had the reputation in those days of being the richest young men in New York, were both at her feet. So far, she had scarcely been fortunate. There was still a chance, however. She looked up. It seemed to her that he was losing his composure. Yes, there was something of the old gleam in his eyes! Once he had been madly enough in love with her. It ought not to be impossible!
“Jerry,” she said, “I have told you these things. It has been so very, very painful for me. Won't you try now and be kind? Remember that I am all alone and it is all very difficult for me. I have been looking forward to your coming. I have thought so often of those times we spent together in New York. Won't you be my friend again? Won't you help me through these dark days?”