"A clever trap," said Isabella, with her incomprehensible smile. "I did not know that Dick had the wit."
"Mr. Turner appears to have known Devar before," explained Alphonse, "and seemed to have some cause for complaint against him, though I do not believe all he said. And now Howard wantonly insults one of your friends, a gentleman who has dined in this house. He takes too much upon himself. If you will only say the word, Miss Gayerson, I will quarrel with Howard myself."
And Isabella, as Alphonse subsequently told me, received this offer with an ill-concealed smile.
"Dick is not afraid of the responsibility," she said, and did not appear so resentful as her champion.
"But why did he do it?"
Isabella did not answer at once, and Alphonse, whose good heart invariably tricked his temper, made a suggestion.
"Is it because he thought Mr. Devar no fit friend for yourself, Miss Gayerson?"
Isabella laughed derisively before she did me another wrong.
"He does not trouble about me or my affairs," she answered. "No, it is because Mr. Devar is too clever a person to be a welcome observer of Dick's actions. Dick probably knows that Mr. Devar is an expert in money matters, and less easy to deceive than yourself and a few ignorant and trusting women."
"You mean in the matter of my fortune?"