’Well, perhaps not.  You see, Mr. Hamilton had not the same temptations; he was always steady and hard-working from a boy, and never cared much about his own comfort.  As for getting into debt, why, he would have considered it wicked to do so.  I know the colonel thought once or twice that he was a little hard on Eric.  I remember his saying once ’that boys will be boys, and that all are not good alike, and that he must not use the curb too much.’  It was a pity, certainly, that Mr. Hamilton was so angry about his painting.  I daresay it was only a temporary craze.  I am afraid, though, Eric must have behaved very badly.  I know he struck his elder brother once.  Anyhow, things went on from bad to worse; and one day a dreadful thing happened.  A cheque of some value, I have forgotten the particulars, was stolen from Mr. Hamilton’s desk, and the next day Eric disappeared.’

‘Was he accused of taking it?’

’To be sure.  Leah saw him with her own eyes.  You must ask Mr. Cunliffe about all that; my memory is apt to be treacherous about details.  I know Leah saw him with his hand in his brother’s desk, and though Eric vowed it was only to put a letter there,—­a very impertinent letter that he had written to his brother,—­still the cheque was gone, and, as they heard afterwards, cashed by a very fair young man at some London Bank; and the next morning, after some terrible quarrel, during which Gladys fainted, poor girl, Eric disappeared, and the very next thing they heard of him, about three weeks afterwards, was that his watch and a pocket-book belonging to him had been picked up on the Brighton beach close to Hove.’

‘Do you mean that this is all they have ever heard of him?’

’Yes.  I believe Mr. Hamilton employed every means of ascertaining his fate.  For some months he refused to believe that he was dead.  I am not sure if Gladys believes it now.  But Etta did from the first.  “He was weak and reckless enough for anything,” she has often said to me.  Of course it is very terrible, and one cannot bear to think of it, but when a young man has lost his character he has not much pleasure in his life.’

‘I do not think Miss Hamilton really believes that he is dead.’

’Perhaps not, poor darling.  But Mr. Hamilton has no doubt on the subject, my dear Miss Garston.  He is much to be pitied:  he has never been the same man since Eric went.  I am afraid that he repents of his harshness to the poor boy.  He told the colonel once that he wished he had tried milder treatment.’

’One can understand Mr. Hamilton’s feelings so well.  You are right, Mrs. Maberley:  he is much to be pitied.’

’Yes, and, to make matters worse, Gladys was very ill, and refused to see or speak to him in her illness.  I believe the breach is healed between them now; but she is not all that a sister ought to be to him.’

‘Perhaps Miss Darrell usurps her place,’ I replied a little incautiously, but I saw my mistake at once.  Mrs. Maberley was evidently a devout believer in Miss Darrell’s merits.