I might have tried to find the right reading of this riddle, and tried in vain—­but for Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite’s death, which caused an inquiry to be made into the state of his affairs.

The inquiry elicited these facts:—­

That Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite was entrusted with the care of a sum of twenty thousand pounds—­as one of two Trustees for a young gentleman, who was still a minor in the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight.  That the Trust was to lapse, and that the young gentleman was to receive the twenty thousand pounds on the day when he came of age, in the month of February, eighteen hundred and fifty.  That, pending the arrival of this period, an income of six hundred pounds was to be paid to him by his two Trustees, half-yearly—­at Christmas and Midsummer Day.  That this income was regularly paid by the active Trustee, Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite.  That the twenty thousand pounds (from which the income was supposed to be derived) had every farthing of it been sold out of the Funds, at different periods, ending with the end of the year eighteen hundred and forty-seven.  That the power of attorney, authorising the bankers to sell out the stock, and the various written orders telling them what amounts to sell out, were formally signed by both the Trustees.  That the signature of the second Trustee (a retired army officer, living in the country) was a signature forged, in every case, by the active Trustee—­otherwise Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite.

In these facts lies the explanation of Mr. Godfrey’s honourable conduct, in paying the debts incurred for the lady and the villa—­and (as you will presently see) of more besides.

We may now advance to the date of Miss Verinder’s birthday (in the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight)—­the twenty-first of June.

On the day before, Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite arrived at his father’s house, and asked (as I know from Mr. Ablewhite, senior, himself) for a loan of three hundred pounds.  Mark the sum; and remember at the same time, that the half-yearly payment to the young gentleman was due on the twenty-fourth of the month.  Also, that the whole of the young gentleman’s fortune had been spent by his Trustee, by the end of the year ’forty-seven.

Mr. Ablewhite, senior, refused to lend his son a farthing.

The next day Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite rode over, with you, to Lady Verinder’s house.  A few hours afterwards, Mr. Godfrey (as you yourself have told me) made a proposal of marriage to Miss Verinder.  Here, he saw his way no doubt—­if accepted—­to the end of all his money anxieties, present and future.  But, as events actually turned out, what happened?  Miss Verinder refused him.

On the night of the birthday, therefore, Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite’s pecuniary position was this.  He had three hundred pounds to find on the twenty-fourth of the month, and twenty thousand pounds to find in February eighteen hundred and fifty.  Failing to raise these sums, at these times, he was a ruined man.