“You ask me why I left without saying good-bye to you, Jane. It was because your father has dismissed me from the house and forbidden me to have any more to do with you.”
“Oh, why?” asked the girl, lifting her hands despairingly.
“Can’t you guess?” he answered with a bitter laugh.
“Yes, Leonard,” she whispered, taking his hand in sympathy.
“Perhaps I had better put it plainly,” said Leonard again; “it may prevent misunderstandings. Your father has dismissed me because my father embezzled all my money. The sins of the father are visited upon the children, you see. Also he has done this with more than usual distinctness and alacrity, because he wishes you to marry young Mr. Cohen, the bullion-broker and the future owner of Outram.”
Jane shivered.
“I know, I know,” she said, “and oh! Leonard, I hate him!”
“Then perhaps it will be as well not to marry him,” he answered.
“I would rather die first,” she said with conviction.
“Unfortunately one can’t always die when it happens to be convenient, Jane.”