"I hope there was a respectable sum in the bank," said Mr. Haliburton, his spirits rising again.
Hughie opened the pass-book.
"When I went to the bank in question," he said, "and asked to be allowed to see the amount of my balance, I was handed this pass-book. From it you will gather the exact value of Miss Gaymer's fortune at the moment when I took over the management of her affairs."
He handed the book to Mr. Haliburton. That devout lover glanced eagerly at the sum indicated on the balance-line—and turned a delicate green.
"You see?" said Hughie calmly, taking the book back. "One hundred pounds sterling! A poor exchange for five thousand, Mr. Haliburton!"
"Where is the money?" said Haliburton thickly.
"That I can't tell you. But you will see by the book and this duly endorsed cheque,"—he picked a pink slip out of the dispatch-box,—"that the sum of thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred pounds—the amount he had put in a few days before, less one hundred—was drawn out of the bank, in a lump, by my uncle himself the day before he sailed. Why he did it, I can't imagine. He must have changed his plans suddenly. All I know is that he has put me in a very tight place as a trustee, and you in a much tighter one as a suitor, Mr. Haliburton!"
He took the cheque from the hands of the demoralized Haliburton, and closed the dispatch-box.
There was a long silence. At length Hughie said:—
"I presume I may take it that you now desire to withdraw from this engagement?"