He stared out of window at the square
garden for a few moments, then turned to look frowning at his companion.
"Then came her temptation. Her father had died a year before, leaving
her the trustee of her only sister, who was not yet of age. It had taken
some little time to wind up his affairs; but on the day after she
received her husband's letter of remonstrance, six thousand pounds out
of her father's estate was paid into her banking account. By this time
she was in one of those states of excitement and unreasoning terror to
which she had been liable from her childhood. She took the trust money
in order to pay the debts, and then gambled again in order to replace
the trust money. Her motive throughout was the motive of the hunted
creature. She was afraid of confessing to her husband, especially by
letter. She believed he would cast her off--and in her despair and
remorse she clung to his affection, and to the hope of his coming home,
as she had never yet done.
"In less than a month--in spite of ups and downs of fortune, probably
skilfully contrived by Francis Wing and his accomplices--for there can
be no question that the play was fraudulent--she had lost four thousand
out of the six; and it is clear that more than once she thought of
suicide as the only way out, and nothing but the remembrance of the
child restrained her.
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