Lance was silent for a few moments, and then he answered half resentfully:
"I did."
It was obvious to Harding that delicacy was required here. Mrs. Mowbray was right in her suspicions, but if he made a mistake Lance would take alarm. Harding feared, however, that tact was not much in his line.
"I am an outsider here," he said with blunt directness; "but perhaps that's a reason why you can talk to me candidly. It's sometimes embarrassing to tell one's intimate friends about one's troubles. Why did you want the money?"
Lance flushed and hesitated, but he gathered confidence from Harding's grave expression.
"To tell the truth, I'd got myself into an awkward mess."
"One does now and then. I've been fixed that way myself. Perhaps I can help."
"No; you can't," Lance said firmly. "All the same, it's a relief to take somebody into my confidence. Well, I owed a good deal of money; I'd been playing cards."
"Do you pay debts of that kind at once?"
"Of course. It's a matter of principle; though the boys wouldn't have pressed me."