"Why did he mistrust your father?" I asked, although I had a very shrewd suspicion of what the answer would be.
The girl flushed. "Uncle Gabriel was never just to my father," she said in a low voice. "Oh, I know that papa has his faults, but his heart is in the right place. Papa has no idea of money: he is like a child; so Uncle Gabriel thought that if papa secured the diamonds he might squander their value."
"What!" said I, significantly, "when they belonged to you?"
She colored again. "I think papa believes what is mine is his. You see Uncle Gabriel died when I was about sixteen--five years ago--and he thought that if papa could lay hands on the jewels then that they would not come to me. He mistrusted papa."
"And with very good reason," I murmured, too low for Gertrude to hear. Walter Monk, as I truly believed; would act exactly in the way his brother suspected he would.
"What's that you say?"
"Never mind. I understand that the diamonds were concealed so that your father might not be tempted. But surely your uncle intended them to come into your hands sooner or later."
"Yes. The diary said that the jewels were hidden in a certain place."
"What place?" I asked abruptly.
"Ah, that was kept secret. But Uncle Gabriel talked about trusting Anne----"