“I must ask you. I must ask you to tell me this: How was he defrauded, as you call it?”
“I have told you, already. My mother's fortune—”
“But your mother had no fortune.”
The anticipated scene was imminent. She sprang to her feet, but being too weak to stand, sank back again. Hephzy looked appealingly at me.
“Hosy,” she cautioned; “Oh, Hosy, be careful! Think how sick she has been.”
“I am thinking, Hephzy. I mean to be careful. But what I said is the truth, and you know it.”
Hephzy would have replied, but Little Frank motioned her to be silent.
“Hush!” she commanded. “Mr. Knowles, what do you mean? My mother had money, a great deal of money. I don't know the exact sum, but my father said—You know it! You MUST know it. It was in my grandfather's care and—”
“Your grandfather had no money. He—well, he lost every dollar he had. He died as poor as a church rat.”
Another interval of silence, during which I endured a piercing scrutiny from the dark eyes. Then Miss Morley's tone changed.