A Woman's Debt by William Le Queux — Read

Dismissing from his mind for the moment the incident which Rosabelle Sheldon had made a special visit to communicate to him-the anonymous letter would put in train the machinery for elucidating the real facts of that-there were two pressing problems that Lane was anxious to solve without any undue delay. The one was the actual position of Sir George Clayton-Brookes. Was he a comparatively poor man, as his paying-in book went to prove; or a rich one, as his lavish expenditure in certain directions tended to show? The second problem was the real identity of the young man calling himself his nephew, and also passing as the nephew of Mrs. Morrice by the marriage of her sister to the brother of the mysterious baronet.

The latter of the two puzzles was in the capable hands of Sellars. Much would depend upon the result of that interview with the friend of Mrs. Morrice's youth, Alma Buckley. And the result depended upon the woman herself. First of all, had she any knowledge of Lettice Larchester after they had parted company at the little village of Brinkstone sufficiently intimate to include the details of her life between that date and her marriage to the wealthy financier? If she knew them, was she too staunch a friend to the companion of her youth to satisfy the curiosity of a stranger, or could she be tempted to open her mouth by a bribe of sufficient magnitude. If she were a venal person she would, no doubt, require a considerable sum for any information she gave.