“I told you once that I had had some experience on the stage.”
“True; and how did you come to abandon the profession?”
“My father got into trouble, and was helped out by Geoffrey Haywood. How they happened to meet I do not know. I think it was purely accidental. At all events, Haywood persuaded him to leave New York and live on a farm just out of Dalton. He did well by him, for father has made money unaccountably fast. We were very poor when in New York.”
“And what do you think is the secret of your father’s good fortune?”
A thought which had struck Carlos impelled him to ask this question.
“I cannot tell. He is associated with Haywood in somebusiness that is kept in the dark. There is much that goes on in the dead of night. Strange-looking men come, father goes off, and I don’t know what all.”
“Do they ever go in the direction of Rocky Beach?”
The girl glanced at him sharply.
“I am doing wrong in talking about my father’s private affairs,” she said, coldly; “and I have made a fool of myself before you; I realize it perfectly. I am nothing to you. I served you well once, and for that you are grateful. How I hate the word!” She spoke now with suppressed vehemence. “You have seen what a friend Kate Heath can be. But remember one thing—I know you, and you may realize what it is to have me for a foe.”
Her eyes dilated and shot forth the wrath of disappointment and desperation.