ou do not know all that I do about Felix. But don't
be troubled about it now. Some day you shall know--I shall tell
you--the whole story. I dare say it will seem marvelous to you at
first. But you will soon see how inevitable it has all been. Felix
will return soon, I suppose."

"Oh, I hope so," Henrietta broke in. "He has been gone five weeks and
his affairs are in an awful condition!"

Gordon nodded. "Yes, they must be. It is quite time for him to come
back and put them in order. But I warn you, Miss Marne, that it will
be wise for you not to mention my name to him when he does return. He
hates me so furiously and he has so little control over that violent
temper he has developed, that there is no telling what he will say or
do if any one so much as speaks of me in his presence. You remember
his outrageous conduct to Mrs. Fenlow?"

"Oh, did Mrs. Fenlow tell you about that?" Henrietta asked with a
quick look of surprise that was reminiscent, too, of the shock the
incident had given her. "I thought she mentioned your name. Was that
what made him so angry?"

"That was what caused his final brutality. The trouble was about Mark
Fenlow. You know how fond and proud of him his mother has been and
what high expectations she has always had for him. Felix had got him
into the way of gambling and the boy had developed a passion for it
which he could not restrain. Ever since Felix has had money he has
played a good deal, and for pretty high stakes, because of the
pleasure he got out of it. But he knew when to stop, just as he did
with all his vicious indulgences."

Gordon's eyes were flashing and his voice growing tense with hostile
feeling. But Henrietta saw that he was making a strong effort to keep
himself under control and to speak calmly about his enemy.

"That is," he went on, "he used to be able to stop before doing
himself injury. He didn't care what happened to others. But he can't
now. The gambler's mania has got hold of him in just the same way that
he's lost control of his temper, and he's likely, if he keeps on, to
gamble away everything he's got. He liked Mark Fenlow and led him into
more evil than just the gambling. But it was that that proved the
boy's ruin. It was the old story--playing, losing, borrowing,
financial difficulties, the temptation of money in sight, the belief
that he could pay it back the next day. His last filchings, which
brought about discovery and confession of the whole business to his