"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Arkel," she said; "but you look to me terribly ill. Is anything the matter? I am afraid——" She hesitated.
"That I've been making a fool of myself?" he finished bitterly. "Well, you're right as usual—I have. And what's more, I'm afraid I shall go on making a fool of myself until I can find someone to give me a helping hand."
"But is not Hilda——?"
"Hilda!" His face crimsoned, and he bit his lip. "Hilda has given me up. That's all over now!"
"Given you up?" She did not know whether she felt glad or sorry.
"Yes; given me up. When through the theft of that will I lost everything, she flatly declined to marry me. Her father forbade her to. I saw him—I saw her—and the whole thing was too much for me. I had a kind of fit, I believe."
"Poor Mr. Arkel!"
"Still Mr. Arkel?—you used to take an interest in me. You used to be my friend."
"That I am still; but surely Major Dundas is your friend. Surely he——?"
"Oh yes; in a cold-blooded sort of way," replied Gerald listlessly. "He has helped me. He gave me three hundred pounds, and said he would try and get me something to do. Considering that he has all that I should have had, that is not a great deal."