"Just listen to this," he said irritably.
"'MY DEAR MORTIMER, A letter from Jasper takes me down to the Castle. I will return in time
to join your little party and, with your leave, bring Jasper along too;
but don't wait on any account.
"'Yours, "'ADRIEN LEROY.'"
"Jasper--always Jasper!" commented Standon. "I'd like to know by what
means Jasper Vermont has obtained such influence over Leroy."
"Ah, that's the mystery!" said Parselle, frowning.
"It's as plain as a pikestaff," growled Mortimer Shelton. "Leroy saved
Vermont's life years ago--at Oxford, I think. That's enough for Adrien.
If a cat or dog, or even a one-eyed monkey, placed itself under his
protection, Adrien Leroy would stick to it through thick and thin. You
know his little way; and this Vermont is no fool. He intends to make
full use of his friend."
"And yet Leroy is not easily taken in," remarked Parselle thoughtfully.
"Every man has his weak point," retorted Shelton with a shrug, "and
Jasper is Leroy's one vulnerable spot. He will believe nothing against
him."
"He's a lucky chap, Vermont," said Standon pensively. "No one really
knows what he is or where he springs from; yet he always seems to have
plenty of money, and apparently the whole of Leroy's passes through his
hands."
"Something near a million," put in Parselle enviously, "and with the run
of a castle like a palace. No, Vermont's no fool!"
Mortimer Shelton nodded.
"The Castle's all right," he said curtly. "You can trust the Leroys to
have the best of everything. They treat money like dirt, and bow before
nothing but Royalty and women. Yet, with it all, there's no stauncher
friend than a Leroy."
"As Vermont knows only too well," muttered Standon dryly. "By the way, I
saw Ada Lester in the Park this morning. Jove! Such furs!"
"In that quarter Adrien certainly treats his money like dust," said
Parselle, with a short laugh. "I can't think what he sees in her; to me
she seems an insatiate animal--and about as difficult to satisfy. It's a
jolly good job for Leroy that, thanks to his father's generosity, his
income runs into five figures--nothing else would stand the strain."
"Do you know, some one told me at the Casket the other night that Leroy
had made the theatre over to Ada entirely, and settled a thousand a year
on her into the bargain," said Standon, leaning forward.