"A scoundrel, was he?"
"He used to beat his poor young wife black and blue, sir.
"Beat his wife, you say?"
"She died of his ill-usage, anyway. He killed his father, too. The night he went away he broke open the Governor's safe and carried off everything."
"Broke open the Governor's safe?"
"That's so--the old man died a pauper."
"Died a pauper?"
"Left nothing behind him, so it comes to the same thing. Every stick in the house had to be sold to the new Minister."
"But is this true?"
"True enough, sir. Everything came out at the general election. The Governor and the old Factor were rival candidates, and they told us the family secrets."