"Mother and me!"
"And Patsie?"
"No, Patsie is away."
"When did he tell you?"
"Just a week ago."
"But why?— That doesn't seem like him to tell you," said Bojo, frowning. "Perhaps you've exaggerated."
"No, no. He is in a bad way. He is caught," she said hurriedly. "Times have been hard, the market has gone down steadily—all summer—way, way down—and Dad is carrying enormous blocks of stock—must carry them or admit defeat—and you know Dad! I don't know exactly what's wrong. He didn't go into the matter; but he has enemies, tremendous enemies that are trying to put him out, and it's a question of credit. Oh, if you'd seen his face when he told us, you'd know just how serious it was!"
"Just what did he say?"
"He told us—I can't remember the words—that if times continued as they had been, he stood a chance of losing every cent he had, that he was in a fight for existence and that he couldn't tell how it would come out." She hesitated a moment and added: "He thought the situation so critical that we should know of it."
This last and the halting before saying it, suddenly gave him the light he had been seeking during all this interview.