"
"And has this transaction been completed?" asked Thorndyke.
"Yes, it has, unfortunately. But we wished to see if anything could be
done for the widow and the children during Hartridge's lifetime. No
doubt, my client's daughter, Miss Curtis, called last night on a similar
mission--very indiscreetly, since the matter was in our hands; but, you
know, she is engaged to Edmund Hartridge--and I expect the interview was
a pretty stormy one."
Thorndyke remained silent for a while, pacing slowly along the gravel
path, with his eyes bent on the ground: not abstractedly, however, but
with a searching, attentive glance that roved amongst the shrubs and
bushes, as though he were looking for something.
"What sort of man," he asked presently, "is this Leonard Wolfe?
Obviously he is a low scoundrel, but what is he like in other respects?
Is he a fool, for instance?"
"Not at all, I should say," said Mr. Curtis. "He was formerly an
engineer, and, I believe, a very capable mechanician. Latterly he has
lived on some property that came to him, and has spent both his time and
his money in gambling and dissipation.
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