It was worse than you have imagined--a whirlpool of
vice and debauchery. Such vice is expensive, and a long run of bad luck
at play might easily bring a man to the verge of ruin. Your uncle came
to the brink of the precipice, his appetite for vice and play still
insatiated. Your fortune was in his keeping, and he used it."
"Then I have nothing!" exclaimed Barbara, turning to Gilbert, "and I
have been thinking and planning that--"
"My dear, your money was nothing to me."
"I know, but--"
"Better let me finish the story, Mistress Lanison," said Fellowes. "In
some way, I cannot tell you how, Lord Rosmore discovered what your uncle
was doing. He therefore obtained a hold over Sir John, which hold he
used for the purpose of forcing himself upon you, meaning to marry you.
I do not doubt that, in a way, he loved you, but he wanted your money
too, for Rosmore has squandered his possessions for years past, and must
be near the end of his tether. Martin declares that it is only money he
wants."
"Has he been using my fortune, too?"
"No, except those large sums which he has won from your uncle from time
to time. Possibly, in the firm belief that your money would some day be
his, he may have checked your uncle's recklessness, and he has never let
Sir John know his position.
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