"How? By throwing him out of the window?"
"No. That would have been no good if he was really after her money. I simply told him the truth—the whole truth—about her bank balance, and so on. That did it. He backed out all right."
Jimmy Marrable rubbed his hands.
"And then?"
"And then ideas began to occur to him—"
"Exactly. He began to ask questions—to make innuendoes—"
"Yes. I then threw him out of the window. It was some consolation. That is the story."
Hughie turned away, and gazed dejectedly into the fender. Presently Jimmy Marrable remarked:—
"And meanwhile the fat is in the fire?"
"It is," said Hughie bitterly. "Uncle Jimmy, what will she think? Everything is bound to come out now,—that fellow will run about telling everybody,—and when she hears of the cruel position I've placed her in she'll never speak to me again. We shan't even be ordinary good friends now. Poor little girl! I've done her the worst turn a man can do a woman; and I would have died for her—cheerfully!"