ally, that coming here I should learn that Kate had left me a share
of her fortune as a matter of course, and then I'd be able to go back
and settle myself respectably in the far West. I may as well tell you I
have a wife somewhere out there, and if I had means to buy up a splendid
mining property which can be had now for a mere song, I'd just buy it
clean and settle down to a steady life."

During this speech, Eben Slade's expression of face had become so very
frank and innocent that Mr. Reed's conviction began to waver. He had
felt sure that Slade remembered well enough having long ago written him
two letters--one asking for information concerning Kate's property, the
other bemoaning the fact that it was all lost, and appealing to him for
money. But now it seemed evident that these documents, still in Mr.
Reed's good keeping, had quite escaped his visitor's memory.

"I don't want to go to law about this thing," continued Slade, slowly,
as if to demand closer attention, "especially as it would stir up your
home affairs for the public benefit; and so, as I say, I hope to settle
things quietly. If I only had what ought to be coming to me, I wouldn't
be here at all. It would be lonesome for my many friends in this favored
spot, but I should be far away, making a man of myself, as they say in
the books."

"What is all this to me?" said Mr. Reed, coldly. "You have had your
answer concerning Mrs. Robertson's property. Have you any more questions
to ask? It is getting late."

"Well, yes, a few. What about the wreck? No, let's hear from the date of
the marriage." And Mr. Slade, inwardly surprised at Mr. Reed's patience,
yet unable to forego the luxury of being as familiar and pert as
possible, settled himself to listen to the story which Mr. Reed had
permitted him to come and hear.

"They sailed," began that gentleman, "early in--"

Slade, leaning back in his easy-chair, waved his hand with a sprightly,
"Beg pardon! Go back a little. This Robertson--"

"This Robertson," said Mr. Reed, as though it quite suited him to go
back, "was a stranger to me, a friend of the lady whom my brother
Wolcott afterward married. Indeed, Kate formed his acquaintance while
visiting at this lady's home in New York. He was a fascinating, handsome
man, of a visionary turn, and with extravagant tastes,--but without a
grain of business capacity."

"Like myself," interrupted the listener, with an ugly attempt at a
smile.

"From the first I o