"I have known that for some time."
"George is a great friend of mine," continued Lawson. "We saw a good deal of each other when he first came to town—he was a right jolly sort of fellow then; it was only about six months ago that, all of a sudden, he seemed to change. I suppose he took up with some bad companions, but I really can't say for certain."
"But what about him now?" said Effie, in a voice almost irritable with anxiety. "Have you anything fresh to tell me?"
"You heard him, probably, say to your mother that he had a rise of salary?"
"Yes."
"The fact is," continued Lawson, "I know that not to be true."
Effie also in her heart of hearts knew it not to be true, but she could not bear to hear a stranger abuse her brother.
"How can you be sure?" she said, somewhat inconsistently.
"How can I be sure?" he retorted. "This is not a matter of sentiment, I happen to know. George is working with a relative, it is true, but Mr. Gering is one of the hardest men in the City. Everyone who understands him knows the system on which he works, and a relative has no more chance with him than another. George will have to take his rise step by step at something like the rate of ten pounds a year. Perhaps he has told your mother that he has had quite a large rise."
"He said a hundred a year; he said he was now receiving two hundred a year."