"Is that why you look so tired and ill?"
He smiled faintly.
"I might reply with a tu quoque. But that doesn't matter. You have some trouble to tell me. What has happened?"
"You have heard nothing?"
"Nothing whatever." He drew a stool toward him and seated himself at her side. "You know, I am not a person to whom gossip drifts quickly."
"It's not gossip—it's truth. The Marut Diamond Company is closed—for good and all."
"You mean—it has gone smash?"
"Completely—and we with it."
He sat silent for a moment, his head resting thoughtfully on his hand.
"I suppose it had to come," he said at last. "Somehow, it always seemed to me that the concern was doomed. The foundations weren't honest. The Rajah was more or less beguiled into it—" He broke off, turning crimson with vexation. "I beg your pardon, Beatrice. I forgot that that was one of your—escapades."