d. His voice was subdued enough now. Had he been his solicitor he
could not have been more concerned.

"Yes, a few thousand," returned St. George. He saw that some unexpected
shot had hit the colonel, but he did not know he had fired it.

"Left over from the mortgage, I suppose?--less what you paid out for
Harry?"

"Yes, left over from the mortgage, less what I paid Gadgem," he bridled.
"If you have brought any more of Harry's bills hand them out. Why the
devil you ask, Talbot, is beyond my ken, but I have no objection to your
knowing."

Rutter waved his hand impatiently, with a deprecating gesture; such
trifles were no longer important.

"You bank with the Patapsco, do you not?" he asked calmly. "Answer me,
please, and don't think I'm trying to pry into your affairs. The
matter is much more serious than you seem to think." The tone was so
sympathetic that St. George looked closer into his antagonist's face,
trying to read the cause.

"Always with the Patapsco. I have kept my account there for years," he
rejoined simply. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because it has closed its doors--or will in a few hours. It is
bankrupt!"

There was no malice in his tone, nor any note of triumph. That St.
George had beggared himself to pay his son's debts had wiped that clear.
He was simply announcing a fact that caused him the deepest concern.

St. George's face paled, and for a moment a peculiar choking movement
started in his throat.

"Bankrupt!--the Patapsco! How do you know?" He had heard some ugly
rumors at the club a few days before, but had dismissed them as part of
Harding's croakings.

"John Gorsuch received a letter last night from one of the directors;
there is no doubt of its truth. I have suspected its condition for some
time, so has Gorsuch. This brought me here. You see now how impossible
it is for my son to be any longer a burden on you."

St. George walked slowly across the room and drawing out a chair settled
himself to collect his thoughts the better;--he had remained standing
as the better way to terminate the interview should he be compelled
to exercise that right. The two announcements had come like successive
blows in the face. If the news of the bank's failure was true he was
badly, if not hopelessly, crippled--this, however, would wait, as
nothing he might do could prevent the catastrophe. The other--Harry's
being a burden to him--must be met at once.

He looked up and caught the colonel's eye