“It must be admitted that it does. In fact, I’ve been acquiring parsimonious habits and worrying myself about expenses lately. The expenses have to be kept down somehow, and that’s a kind of thing I never took kindly to.”
“You feel it a greater responsibility when you’re managing somebody else’s affairs?” suggested Agatha, who was still awaiting her opportunity.
“Well,” replied Hawtrey, in whom there was, after all, a certain honesty, “that’s not quite the only thing that has some weight with me. You see, I’m not altogether disinterested. I get a certain percentage—on the margin—after everything is paid, and I want it to be a big one. Things are rather tight just now, and the wretched mortgage on my place is crippling me.”
It had slipped out before he quite realized what he was saying, and he saw the girl’s look of concern. She now realized what Sproatly had meant.
“You are in debt, Gregory? I thought you had, at least, kept clear of that,” she said.
“So I did—for a while. In any case, if Wyllard stays away, and I can run this place on the right lines, I shall, no doubt, get out of it again.”
She was vexed that he should speak so selfishly, for it was clear to her that, if Wyllard did not return until another crop was gathered in, it would be because he was held fast among the Northern ice in peril of his life. Then another thought struck her. She had never quite understood why Gregory had been willing to undertake the management of the Range. In view of the probability that Wyllard had plainly told him what to expect concerning herself, she had been greatly puzzled by his acquiescence. But he had made that point clear by admitting that he had been burdened with a load of debt. But why had he incurred debts? The answer came to her as she remembered having heard Mrs. Hastings or somebody else say that he had spent a great deal of money upon his house and the furnishings for it. It brought her a sudden sense of confusion, for as one result of that expenditure he had been forced into doing what she fancied must have been a very repugnant thing. And she had never even crossed his threshold!
“When did you borrow that money?” she asked sharply.
There was no doubt that Gregory was embarrassed, and her heart softened toward him for his hesitation. It was to further her comfort that he had laid that load upon himself, and he was clearly unwilling that she should know it. That counted for much in her favor.
“Was it just before I came out?” she asked again.