"Andrew! But he was a child—"
"Well, he's grown up now, and as rakish a young spendthrift as ye could wish for. Dick seems to pay their debts."
"Devil take him! Why?"
"Heaven knows! I suppose Lavinia insists. We all knew that 'twas for that reason Tracy flung you both in her way."
"Nonsense! We went of our own accord. She had but returned from school."
"Exactly. And whose doing was that but Tracy's?"
Carstares opened his eyes rather wide and leant both arms on the table, crooking his fingers round the stem of his wine glass.
"Do the debts amount to much?"
"I can't tell ye that. 'Twas but by chance I found it out at all. The Belmanoirs were never moderate in their manner of living."
"Nor were any of us. Don't be so hard on them, Miles!... I knew, of course, that the Belmanoir estate was mortgaged, but I did not guess to what extent."