thought meanly of them. Why did you not pay them the ninety pounds you
borrowed from them? And why did you invent that servile bit of
thankfulness?"

"I will tell you, Roberta. When I got home I found the whole village
on my father's place. The funeral arrangements were, for a man in my
father's position, exceedingly extravagant, and I was astonished at my
mother's recklessness, and want of oversight. Christine was overcome
with grief, and everything appeared to be left to men and women who
were spending other people's money. I thought under the circumstances
it was better not to pay Christine at that time, and I think I was
right."

"So far, perhaps, you were prudent, but prudence is naturally mean and
as often wrong as right. And why did you lie to me, so meanly and so
tediously?"

"You have to lie to women, if you alter in the least anything you have
told them. You cannot explain to a woman, unless you want to stand all
day doing it. There are times when a lie is simply an explanation, a
better one than the truth would be. The great Shakespeare held that
such lies were more for number, than account."

"I do not take my opinion of lies from William Shakespeare. A lie is a
lie. There was no need for a lie in this case. The lie you made up
about it was for account, not for number--be sure of that. You admit
that you did not give Christine the ninety pounds you borrowed from
me, in order to pay your debt to her. What did you do with the
money?"

"Have you any right to ask me that question? If I borrowed ninety
pounds from the bank, would they ask me what I did with it?"

"I neither know nor care what the bank would do. I am seeking
information for Roberta Ruleson, and I shall take my own way to obtain
it."

"What is it you want to know?"

"What you did with that ninety pounds?"

"I banked it."

"In what bank? There is no record of it in the Bank of Scotland, where
I have always supposed, until lately, our funds were kept."

"I did not put it in the Bank of Scotland. Every business man has an
official banking account, and also a private banking account. I put
that ninety pounds to my private bank account."

"In what bank?"

"I do not give that information to anyone."

"It must be pretty well known, since it has come as a matter of gossip
to me."

"You had better say 'advice' in place of gossip. What advice did you
get?"

"I was told to look after my own money, that you were putting what
little yo