Oh! My poor little girl, what a life! How I longed to take her out of
it!

He went on.

"Strange how certain instincts show themselves under every condition.
Bobby was no physical coward, and to talk to and mix with casually, the
most perfect gentleman you ever met. Awfully well read and a topper at
classics and history, and sang like a bird. He had the grand manner,
and could attract any woman, though to give the devil his due--I believe
for some years he was faithful to Lady Hilda."

"I should think so!" I said indignantly. "After accepting her great
sacrifice!"

"Nothing lasts, my dear boy, that is not fundamental. Bobby was a rotter
through and through, and so he couldn't even behave decently to the
woman who had given up everything for him, once her charm went.
But--that something in human beings which is unaccountable, when they
are well bred, made him join the French Foreign Legion immediately war
broke out, and behave with great gallantry."

"What brought on the last episode?"

"He was probably bored in the dull post where he was, with not much
fighting to do lately, and resorted to his old game to cover up losses,
which he could not pay, and had the bad luck to be caught for the second
time. I told you he was a fool and did not know how to calculate the
price of his follies."