“I presume Gerald has not mentioned the matter to you.”
“No.”
“Well, he could hardly be expected to do so.”
“Still the boy is no worse for his father’s crime.”
“Unless he inherits the same tendency,” said Wentworth significantly.
“I am sure he does not,” said Noel Brooke warmly.
“You can’t tell. I claim to be a sharp business man, but I have more than once been deceived in a man that I thought I knew well. Warren Lane seemed to my uncle and myself a thoroughly upright man, but——” here he paused suggestively.
“What induced him to commit forgery?”
“Extravagant living,” answered Wentworth promptly. “His salary was only moderate and did not come up to his desires.”