“Do you mean to say he didn’t even pay you for hiring her?” I asked faintly.
“No, he didn’t; and you know it. He was the biggest rogue at the hotel, and when he left he owed me nearly fifty dollars for boat-hire.”
The news actually staggered me. Mr. Markham a fraud! I could not believe it.
“Well, he told me he would pay you for the boat, and then she should be mine,” I explained. “I saved him and his family from drowning when the boat went over. He even wanted me to take a reward besides, and took me to the bank to get the money.”
“And did he get the money?” questioned Mr. Williams.
“No; he had some difficulty, and”—
“Rather guess he did have some difficulty,” sneered the boat-owner.
“That man was nothing more nor less than a swindler,” put in the constable. “He tried his best to do the bank out of several thousand dollars.”
“I can hardly believe it,” I replied. “He looked every inch a gentleman.”