At the last word she hesitated suddenly, and looked at him. “Don't think I'm ungrateful”--she went on, with a troubled effort at a smile--“but I almost wish you'd never sent me that four hundred pounds at all. What it means is that they've had two years at schools where now I shan't be able to keep them any longer. They'll be spoiled for my kind of life--and they won't have a fair chance for any other. I don't know what will become of them.”
The profound apprehension in the mother's voice did not dull the gleam in Thorpe's eyes. He even began a smile in the shadows of his unkempt moustache.
“But when I sent that money, for example, two years ago, and over,” he persisted, doggedly--“and I told you there'd be more where that came from, and that I stood to pull off the great event--even then, now, you didn't believe in your innermost heart that I knew what I was talking about, did you?”
She frowned with impatience as she turned toward him. “For heaven's sake, Joel,” she said, sharply--“you become a bore with that stupid nonsense. I want to be patient with you--I do indeed sympathize with you in your misfortunes--you know that well enough--but you're very tiresome with that eternal harping on what I believed and what I didn't believe. Now, are you going to stop to supper or not?--because if you are I must send the maid out. And there's another thing--would it be of any help to you to bring your things here from the hotel? You can have Alfred's room as well as not--till Christmas, at least.”
“Supposing I couldn't get my luggage out of the hotel till I'd settled my bill,” suggested Thorpe tentatively, in a muffled voice.
The practical woman reflected for an instant. “I was thinking,” she confessed then, “that it might be cheaper to leave your things there, and buy what little you want--I don't imagine, from what I've seen, that your wardrobe is so very valuable--but no, I suppose the bill ought to be paid. Perhaps it can be managed; how much will it be?”
Thorpe musingly rose to his feet, and strolled over to her chair. With his thick hands on his sister's shoulders he stooped and kissed her on the forehead.
“You believe in me now, anyway, eh, Lou?” he said, as he straightened himself behind her.