"Have you had good reports of him?"
"So, so. The reformatory he was put into seems to be a good one, and the boys are well looked after. But Jerry is a tree which will grow crooked. He seems to have been giving a lot of trouble."
"Yet he was lucky to get off as he did," said Durham. "The judge might have sent him to jail instead of into a reformatory."
"And he'll land in jail some day," said Alice, shaking her head. "At least, Bernard seems to think so."
"I fancy Bernard is about right," replied Durham. "The lad is a born criminal. I wonder how he inherited such a tainted nature."
Miss Berengaria sat up briskly. "I can tell you," she said. "Mrs. Moon informed me that her son—Jerry's father—was a desperate scamp, and also that several of her husband's people had come to bad ends."
"To rope ends, I suppose, as Jerry will come," said Durham. "However, he is safe for the next three years in his reformatory. When he comes out, we will see what will happen. What about your other protégé, Miss Berengaria."
"Michael Gilroy?"
"Yes. Has he taken that name for good?"
"He has. It's the only name he is entitled to. How glad I am that the poor creature was acquitted after that dreadful trial. I am sure there is good in him."