& Stainer, that dreadful creature Klawber, a very horrid man named Amos Flack—­and dear, grim, pig-headed Mr. Tappan—­old Remsen Tappan of all men!

    “He practically kicked out Mr. Flack and the creature Klawber, who
    had been trying to frighten Scott and me and even our lawyers.

“And think, Duane!  He never uttered one sarcasm, one reproach for Scott’s foolishness; he sat grim and rusty as the iron that he once dealt in, listening to what Scott had to tell him, never opening that cragged jaw, never unclosing that thin line of cleavage which is his mouth.

“We did not know what he had come for; but we know now.  He is so good—­so good, Duane!  And I, who hated him as a child, as a girl—­I am almost too ashamed to let him take command and untangle for us, with those knotted, steel-sinewed fingers of his, the wretched, tangled mess that has coiled around Scott and me.

“Surely, this man Klawber is a very great villain; and it seems that Mr. Skelton and the wretched Flack creature are little less.  As for Jack Dysart, it is all too sorrowful to think about.  How must he feel!  Surely, surely he could not have known what he was doing.  He must have been desperate to go to Delancy Grandcourt.  It was wrong; nothing on earth could have propped up the Algonquin, and why did he let his best friend go down with it?

    “But it was fine of Delancy to stand by him—­fine, fine!  His father
    is perfectly furious, but, Duane, it was fine!

    “And now, dear, about Scott.  It will amuse you, and perhaps horrify
    you, if I tell you that he has not turned a hair.

“Not that he doesn’t care; not that he is not more or less mortified.  But he blames nobody except himself; and he’s laying plans quite cheerfully for a career on a small income that really does not require the austerity and frugality he imagines.

“One thing is certain; the town house is to be sold.  My income is not sufficient to maintain it and Roya-Neh, and live as we do, and have anything left.  I don’t yet know how far my fortune is involved, but I have a very unpleasant premonition that there is going to be much less left than anybody believes, and that ultimately we ought to sell Roya-Neh.

    “However, it is far too early to speculate; besides, this family has
    done enough speculating for one generation.

“Dear, you ask about myself.  I am not one bit worried, sad, or apprehensive.  I am better, Duane.  Do you understand?  All this has developed a set of steadier nerves in me than I have had since I was a child.

“A new and curiously keen enjoyment has been slowly growing in me—­a happiness in physical and violent effort.  I’ve a devilish horse to ride; and I love it!  I’ve climbed all over the Gilded Dome and Lynx Peak after the biggest and shaggiest boar you ever saw.