There was no one
to look after her, no one to save her from the charity schools and
domestic service afterwards. The church was on Wingrave's estate, it
should have been his duty to augment the ridiculous salary the dead
man had received. Would you believe it, Wingrave refused to do a
single thing for that child! He went down there like a vandal to sell
the heirlooms and pictures which had belonged to his family for
generations. He had no time, he told me coldly, for sentiment."
"It sounds brutal enough," Lovell admitted. "What became of the
child?"
"One of her father's relations turned up after all and took care of
her," Aynesworth said. "Wingrave knew nothing about that, though. Then
on the voyage across the Atlantic, there was a silly, pretty little
woman on board who was piqued by Wingrave's indifference and tried to
flirt with him. In a few days she was his slave. She was going home to
her husband, and you would have thought that any decent fellow would
have told her that she was a little fool, and let her go. But not
Wingrave! She was landing with him at New York, but someone amongst
the passengers, who guessed what was up, sent a Marconigram to her
husband, and he met us at the landing stage."
"Nothing came of that, then?"
"No, but it wasn't Wingrave's fault. Then he began dealing with some
shares in a mine--THE mine, you know. They were supposed to be
worthless, and one boy, who was a little young to the game, sold him
too many.
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