He hesitated, but it was only for a moment.
"I never thought to tell any one," he said slowly, "I think I'd like to!" And he did.

He told his whole story.

He did not spare himself.

He spoke of the days of his earlier partnership with Monty, and he admitted the apparent brutality of his treatment of him on more than one occasion.
He spoke of Ernestine too--of his strange fancy for the photograph of Monty's little girl, a fancy which later on when he met her became almost immediately the dominant passion of his life.

Then he spoke of the coming of Francis, of the awakening of Ernestine's suspicions, and of that desperate moment when he risked everything on her faith in him--and lost.