Her father stifled a groan.
“Suppose I were to tell you that you did?” he said in a low voice.
The recollection of her interview with Captain Mauleverer rushed over Belle. She shrank back and raised her hands as though for protection.
“No; this—this isn’t the secret, is it?” she whispered.
“Listen,” was the answer. “I have just spoken to Gerald, and he tells me that he only delivered half of the message he was to have given you this evening. Do you think you can bear to hear the rest?”
Again she held up her hands with that pathetic, deprecating gesture.
“Wait! Don’t tell it to me too quickly! Give me time to think a little, won’t you?”
“Poor child!”
He turned away his head, unable to face the sight of her distress, and silence reigned for a minute. Belle was the first to speak.
“Captain Mauleverer told me that my father was still alive. That is true, then?”