This had
been left to Gora alone. We had some correspondence and he sent it to me as
Gora was traveling. It came at the wrong time for me...on top of everything
else....I plunged in a new mine Bob Cheever and Baseom Luning were
interested in. It turned out to be no good. We lost every cent."
II
Alexina sat cold and rigid. Once she pinched her arm. She fancied it had
turned to stone.
He dropped into a chair and leaning forward twisted his hands together.
"If you knew...if you knew...what I have been through....At first it was
only the anxiety and excitement. But afterward, when it was over...when
there was nothing left to speculate with...then I realized what I had
done...I...a thief...a thief....I had been so proud of my honor, my
honesty. I never had believed that I could even be tempted. And I went to
pieces like a cheaply built schooner in its first storm. There's nothing,
it seems, in being well brought up, when circumstances are too strong for
you."
Alexina forebore the obvious reply. "Of course you were a little mad," she
said, rather at a loss.
"No, I wasn't. I'd always been a cool speculator, and I'd never taken long
chances in business before. It all looked too good and I got in too deep.
But if I could have repaid it all I'd feel nearly as demoralized. That I
should have stolen...and from women...."
Again Alexina restrained herself. The dead monotonous voice went on.
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