As Philip walked home with Salome under the same umbrella, from the points of which the discoloured water dropped, he said in a low tone to her, ’I have, as you desired, offered your mother to manage her affairs for her. She has accepted my offer, and I have looked through her accounts. She has very little money.’
’I do not suppose she can have much; my poor father died before he was in a position to save any considerable sum.’
’She has about five hundred pounds in Indian railway bonds, and a couple of hundred in a South American loan, and some three hundred in home railways—about fifteen to sixteen hundred pounds in all—that is to say, she had this a little while ago.’
’No; you yourself told me she had met with losses.’
’She informed me that she had, but I cannot understand how this can have been. I doubt entirely that she met with losses.’
’But she allowed me to see her book, and she has sold out some stock—in fact, between two and three hundred pounds’ worth. She did that almost immediately after my uncle’s death.’
’But she has the money realized, I suppose.’
’She cannot and will not account for it to me, except by the vague explanation that she had a sudden and unexpected call upon her which she was forced to meet.’
’But—she said nothing about this to me. It is very odd.’
’It is, as you say, odd. It is, of course, possible that Janet may have had something to do with it, but I cannot say; your mother will not enlighten me.’
’I cannot understand this,’ said Salome musingly.
’I regret my offer,’ said Philip. ’I would not have made it if I had not thought I should be met with candour, and given the information I desired.’
When Mrs. Sidebottom heard that the marriage had actually taken place, then her moral sense reared like a cob unaccustomed to the curb.
’It is a scandal!’ she exclaimed, ’and so shortly after my sweet brother’s death. A bagman’s daughter, too!’
’Uncle Jeremiah died in November,’ said the captain.
’Well, and this is March. To marry a bagman’s daughter in March! It is a scandal, an outrage on the family.’
’My uncle would have had no objections, I suppose. Philip is as good as Mr. Baynes.’
’As good! How you talk, Lamb! as if all the brains in your skull had gone to water. Philip is a Pennycomequick, and Baynes is—of course, a Baynes.’