“I know. We heard of course. Very sad! We all felt for you.”
The lawyer, who was noted for his eloquence in court, halted now in a constrained fashion, and Storm replied quietly. “I’m sure of that. Everyone has been very good, but this is the sort of thing one has to bear alone. I am thinking of getting away shortly for a trip——”
“There was another matter, too, of which I was sorry to learn,” Griffiths interrupted him. “You were badly hit in the Mertens-Du Chainat swindle, weren’t you?”
“I?” Storm’s surprise at the question was unfeigned, and his eyes shifted beneath the other’s level gaze. “Indeed, no! Where did you hear that?”
“From a rather direct source,” the lawyer responded slowly. “In fact, from a private examination of some papers belonging to the pseudo Du Chainat which were unearthed after his departure. A client of mine happens to have been among his victims, and I was in a conference of attorneys who were permitted to make an examination of the effects which Du Chainat overlooked or had no time to destroy. Among them was a list of his victims, together with the amount he had obtained from each; a methodical scoundrel, wasn’t he? He had you down for sixty thousand, and as all the other items on the list were verified by the victims themselves I naturally concluded that his plans had gone through in your case. Sorry if I have made a stupid mistake.”
“Not stupid!” Storm smiled frigidly. “Natural enough, under the circumstances. I met the fellow and he put his proposition up to me; I didn’t bite, but I let him down so easily that probably he considered me one of his prospects. To tell you the truth he interested me as a type, but I wasn’t fool enough to fall for his game.”
“I am glad for your own sake.” There still remained that dry note of mental reservation in the lawyer’s tone. “He victimized some of the most astute business men in the country. ——Hello, Holworthy!”
Storm turned as if stung. George was coming forward from the door with a preternaturally grave expression upon his wide, ingenuous face. How long had he been standing there? Confound his pussy-footing ways! How much had he heard? Storm was inwardly seething with rage at Griffith’s interference in his affairs as well as at George’s inopportune arrival, but he forced himself to greet the newcomer equably, striving to learn from his manner if the conversation had reached his ears.
“I was late because Abbott kept me going over some details at the office,” the latter explained quietly. “He thinks I can get away all right by Monday. Suppose instead of the Beaverkill we try the north woods? The bass ought to be running well up there——”
“So that’s the trip you meant, eh?” Griffiths interrupted. “Gad, wish I could join you! I’d like to get a breath of the big woods in the silence and peace of it after the eternal court wrangles of this last term, but there isn’t a chance for me. I envy you two fellows!”