"Cousin Dorothy, we don't understand.... No, we're quite in the dark; and I think you won't think us indiscreet if we speak quite openly."
"Speak away, Errington."
"Ah, well, it's this—that three hundred thousand francs——"
"Where did they come from?" said Dorothy ending his sentence for him. "That's what you want to know, isn't it?"
"Well, yes."
She bent towards the Englishman's ear and whispered:
"All my savings ... earned by the sweat of my brow."
"I beg you...."
"Doesn't that explanation satisfy you? Then I'll be frank."
She bent towards his other ear, and in a lower whisper still: