"What could have caused the despondency?"
"Without egotism I can say that she loved me, and my inability to marry at present caused the despondency."
"You are wrong."
"I am wrong?"
"Yes."
"Then you know what caused her despondency?"
"I do not, but I know it was not love for you, nor her inability to marry for lack of money. Were you aware that Miss Amalie Speir was an heiress?"
The baron's face assumed the hue of death, while a feeling of exultation agitated our hero's heart. That sudden pallor to a man like Jack spoke volumes.
"She was an heiress?" repeated the man, and actually in husky tones.
"Yes, she was an heiress. Do you not know that her mother has come into her share of the property, and is at present living in a magnificent mansion of her own?"