God help me to do what is right!"
He turned and hurried from the room.
CHAPTER V
MURDER
Archibald Travers stood in his favorite attitude by the window, his
shoulder propped against the casement, his arms folded, a smile of
good-natured amusement on his healthy face.
"My dear child," he protested, "what earthly interest can it have for
you to know the pros and cons of the business? You wouldn't
understand, and that small head would ache for a week afterward. Be
content with the outline of the thing. Of course it has all been
frightfully unfortunate. But the Rajah wasn't to be held back. He
believed the mine was going to be the making of Marut--and for a
matter of fact so did I at first, otherwise I shouldn't have put all
my money in it. The fellow had an enthusiasm and confidence which
fairly carried us off our feet. Well, it's done, and it's no use
crying about it. The best thing we can do is to clear out of Marut as
fast as we can. People are bound to be disagreeable about it."
"The Carys are ruined too?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't know--they have lost a bit, I suppose." His voice sounded
unpleasant. "At any rate, I'll say that for them--they behaved as
people of their extraction would behave. First the mother poured out a
torrent of abuse over the poor Rajah which would have been the envy of
a fish-wife, and then the daughter turned on me." He laughed. "It was
a most powerful scene of feminine hysterics.
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