“Ah!” said Mollie, who was quickly observant of the change in him, “and that reminds me that you have not yet told me what you meant by ‘the worst,’ in connection with Mr. Temple.”
“Sweetheart, I should never have spoken as I did—that was an unfortunate slip,” her father replied, and feeling that, if Mollie was ever to assume closer relations with the Temple family, it were better that she did not know too much.
“But, having made the ‘slip,’ papa, and aroused my curiosity, it leaves me to imagine all sorts of dreadful things if I am kept in the dark,” she persisted, adding: “Besides, I have realized of late that something was wrong in connection with the Temples, and wondered what could have occasioned the change in their manner toward us.”
“Well, then, perhaps it will be best, having said so much, to tell you that the money which I have recently lost has all gone into Mr. Temple’s pockets.”
“Papa! Are you sure? And he advised you to make this venture!” cried Mollie, aghast at such apparent treachery.
“Yes, there can be no doubt about it, though I learned the fact only this morning, and that was what hurt me most.”
“I should think so, indeed. And he has pretended to be your friend—has even entertained you in his own home while leading you on!” exclaimed the indignant girl, with blazing eyes, her face and tone expressing infinite scorn. “Truly it has been the tragedy of the ‘spider and the fly’ enacted in real life!”
“Do not forget, dear, that the unwary ‘fly’ deserves his share of condemnation for having allowed himself to be so hoodwinked,” said Mr. Heatherford, with a bitterness which betrayed how keen was his mortification at having become entangled in the net which had ruined him.
“Oh! but one would never dream of being so ‘wounded in the house of one’s friends,’” retorted Mollie, with supreme contempt.
“And yet a great deal of Mr. Temple’s money, I am told, has been acquired by these doubtful methods. It is said that he got a fine start in some Western mines, after which he went to San Francisco, where he established himself as a banker. After he came to Boston he also put out his sign as a ‘banker,’ but I learned to-day that he has another office in the city where he operates in the dark in a different business, and that many a man is stripped of his last dollar by him.”