"I—" His voice was so lifeless that if dead men could speak it must be in the same flat faint tones. "I had the old power of attorney."
"But I revoked it."
"I mean the instrument—the paper. You did not ask for it. I did not think of it either…. I trusted to the keeper taking it on its face value, not looking it up. He didn't. You see—" He gave a dreadful sort of laugh. "I am well known and have a good reputation."
"Why didn't you cable and ask me to lend you the money?"
"There wasn't time. Besides, you might have refused. I was desperate—"
"I don't want to hear the particulars. I am not in the least curious.
What I must talk to you about—"
"I must tell you the whole thing. I can't go about with it any longer.
Then, perhaps, you will understand."
His voice was still flat and as he continued to walk he seemed to draw half-paralyzed legs after him. Alexina set her lips and stared at the floor. He meant to talk. No getting out of it.
"I—I—have only done well occasionally since the very first. It didn't matter so long as your mother was alive, and for a little while after. But when you took things into your own hands … after that it was capital I turned over to you nearly every month—hardly ever profits."
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"