"Of course," assented Hale readily. "Tait will do anything I ask him."
"And my uncle," said Maud, "for I must call him uncle, will only be too glad to see me come into my kingdom."
"Oh, I am certain of that," said Jabez, trimming his nails rapidly with a little knife, "and to show your gratitude, you will doubtless divide the money with him."
"Oh no. My uncle is too rich to need help," said Maud virtuously.
Jabez shut the knife and restored it to his pocket. "So he made enough by the double deal of the jewels and the insurance fraud to tide over the financial crisis which threatened him," he said deliberately.
Maud turned pale and uttered an exclamation. "I don't understand."
"Do you, Mr. Hale?" asked Jabez.
"No," said the man coldly, "I know nothing of Tait's business."
"Rubbish! rubbish! See here, Hale, and you, young woman, before you came here to try your games on me, you should have made certain that I knew nothing of your doings. As it is, from Mrs. Walker, from her son, and from various other people, I know all that has taken place in connection with that cross from the time Miss Lesbia Hale gave it to her lover, and----"
"You insult Miss Morse," interrupted Hale furiously.