"
"My God!" said Monte Irvin. "How horrible it seems!"
"Horrible, indeed!" agreed Seton. "But there are two features of the
case which, in justice to Sir Lucien, we should not overlook. He, who
had been a poor man, had become a wealthy one and had tasted the
sweets of wealth; also he was now hopelessly in the toils of the woman
Lola.
"With the ingenious financial details of the concern, which were
conducted in the style of the 'Jose Santos Company,' I need not
trouble you now. We come to the second period, when the flat in
Albemarle Street and the two offices in old Bond Street became vacant
and were promptly leased by Mareno, acting on Sir Lucien's behalf, and
calling himself sometimes Mr. Isaacs, sometimes Mr. Jacobs, and at
other times merely posing as a representative of the Jose Santos
Company in some other name.
"All went well. The concern had ample capital, and was organized by
clever people. Sin Sin Wa took up new quarters in Limehouse; they had
actually bought half the houses in one entire street as well as a
wharf! And Sin Sin Wa brought with him the good-will of an illicit
drug business which already had almost assumed the dimensions of a
control.
"Sir Lucien's household was a mere bluff. He rarely entertained at
home, and lived himself entirely at restaurants and clubs.
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