She was tenderly watchful of him, Phil could see, even while she appeared to be the most brilliant and entertaining, while occasionally an anxious expression would sweep over her face and a gentle sigh escape her as her glance rested upon his face.
The young man wondered what it all could mean, but did not give the matter much thought, and it probably would never have entered his mind afterward if he had not overheard Mr. Temple tell his mother after lunch the next day, while Mollie and her father were out making a call, that Mr. Heatherford had confided to him the fact that he had been continually losing money at a disastrous rate during the last two years, until the bulk of his fortune had melted away. He did not add, however, that he had conducted some of these losing negotiations.
“Heavens!” exclaimed Mrs. Temple, aghast, “how did he ever lose it?”
“I expect he has spread himself too much—got tied up in too many enterprises, and when the pinch came he was unable to turn himself,” her husband explained. “A railroad in which he was largely represented has collapsed; a bank of which he was a director and a heavy shareholder has failed; a Western syndicate of immense proportions has gone to pieces—he says there was fraud at the bottom of it—while a rascally agent, in whom he had implicit confidence and to whom he gave power of attorney during his absence, has played him false and skipped to parts unknown with a large amount of money.”
“Well, surely, that is a series of misfortunes,” Mrs. Temple observed; “but, in spite of all, I should suppose he must have a competence left—he was accounted a very rich man before he went away.”
“Yes, but he has been sending good money after bad all the time until, he tells me, he is reduced to a very few thousands.”
“Whew!” ejaculated Phil, under his breath, as, concealed behind a pair of heavy curtains of a bay window, he listened to the above chapter of accidents. “So Miss Mollie’s ‘magnificent inheritance’ has dwindled to almost nothing! What a shame, for she is very beautiful; but a man doesn’t want a penniless wife, especially when his own bank-account will not more than meet his own needs.”
“I am amazed—it is absolutely shocking!” sighed Mrs. Temple, “and it will be a great detriment to Mollie, too; she is a beautiful girl, she has been tenderly and delicately reared, and ought to make a brilliant match.”
“I thought it wise to tell you something of this,” Mr. Temple observed, while he covertly watched his wife’s face. “I imagined that perhaps you might not be quite so eager to have Phil make advances in that direction now.”
“I am sure I could not desire a more lovely wife for Phil,” the lady thoughtfully responded; “but, really, his fortune is hardly sufficient to warrant his marrying a poor girl. I am truly sorry for the Heatherfords; but if I had known of this I should not have thought it wise to invite them here at this time. Since they are here, however, we must make the best of it, but I shall not be sorry when their visit is over.”