"Well," said Barker thoughtfully, "she's the kind of woman who might be
Van Loo's mother, I suppose."
"You mean the mother of a forger and a swindler?" asked Demorest
sharply.
"There are no mothers of swindlers and forgers," said Barker gravely,
"in the way you mean. It's only those poor devils," he said, pointing,
nevertheless, with a certain admiration to a circling sparrow-hawk above
him, "who have inherited instincts. What I mean is that she might be Van
Loo's mother, because he didn't SELECT her."
"Where did she come from? and how long has she been here?" asked
Demorest.
"She came from abroad, I believe. And she came here just after you left.
Van Loo, after he became secretary of the Ditch Company, sent for her
and her daughter to keep house for him. But you'll see her to-day or
to-morrow probably, when she returns. I'll introduce you; she'll be
rather glad to meet some one from abroad, and all the more if he happens
to be rich and distinguished, and eligible for her daughter." He stopped
suddenly in his smile, remembering Demorest's lifelong secret. But to
his surprise his companion's face, instead of darkening as it was
wont to do at any such allusion, brightened suddenly with a singular
excitement as he answered dryly, "Ah well, if the girl is pretty, who
knows!"
Indeed, his spirits seemed to have returned with strange vivacity
as they walked back to the hotel, and he asked many other questions
regarding Mrs.
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