Page 147 - Fairbrass

trouble, and so strangely silent that he

could no longer fathom her thoughts.
One day he lay coiled up, with Pax by

his side, in one of the deep ingle-nooks of
the library fire-place, when his father and

mother, accompanicd by the lawyer, entered

the room. They did not notice Fairbrass,
and with intense distress he overheard their

talk. The lover’s name was 011 his father’s
lips as he entered the room, and so he knew

that it referred to him.

‘ And so he's quite ruined ?’ said the
father.

* Stock, lock and barrel ! ’ replied the

lawyer. * Oh, these wild speculations !
When will people learn that they can't

double their incomes without the almost
inevitable certainty of losing their principal.

Not, mind you, that our young friend is to

blame. The father was the fool.’
' But the fact remains,’ said the mother,

‘ that the son is penniless.'
‘ And that he is engaged, on false pre­

tences, to our daughter/ said the father.