"That is where he got his money to come here."
"He was a fool to commit the forgery. He must have known that it would be discovered sooner or later," said Robert bluntly. He felt that the sooner Mrs. Vernon realized the utter rascality of her nephew the better it would be for the lady.
"But if I had been killed--if both of us had been killed----" she began.
"Then the forgery would never have been discovered, for your nephew would have taken charge of everything, including your private papers and your check-books."
"It is terrible! terrible!" The lady buried her face in a sofa pillow and began to weep. "Robert, what would you advise me to do?" she asked, after a while.
"Do you want my candid opinion?" he questioned.
"I do."
"I would have a straight talk with your nephew, and then send him about his business, and tell him if he ever came near me again I would have him arrested."
"I cannot be so harsh with one of my own flesh and blood."
"Well, then, I tell you what you might do. You might give him, say, a thousand dollars, with the understanding that he leave the country, and that he does not go back to the United States."