Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/85

Rh unusual had happened to throw him, to such a degree, off his mental balance.

"That's right, Mr. Morley; we shall soon arrive at an understanding if we are frank with one another. Sit down."

He sat down on the edge of a chair. His hat he placed beside him on the floor, crown uppermost.

"Well, sir"—with his gloved fingers he stroked his chin, still regarding me with an air of dubitation—"I'm afraid that Mr. Edwin was not all that he ought to have been."

"I am afraid that something similar could be said of all of us."

"It was in money matters chiefly, though there were other things as well; but in money matters he was most irregular—quite unlike Mr. Philip. Mr. Philip has let him have thousands and thousands of pounds; what he did with it was a mystery. They quarrelled dreadfully."

"Brothers will quarrel, Mr. Morley. It's a way they have."

The old gentleman shook his head.

"Ah, but the fault was Mr. Edwin's. Mr. Philip is hot-tempered, but Mr, Edwin was always in the wrong."

Leaning towards me, Mr. Morley whispered, under cover of his hand, "Once Mr. Philip thrashed him—broke his stick across his back,