"No, father."
"You have no reason to accuse Pat Carroll, except by what you have heard?"
"No, father."
"Nor anyone else?"
"No, father." Then Mr. Jones stood silent, looking at his son. And the more he looked the more he doubted him. When the boy had uttered "No, father," for the last time, Mr. Jones felt almost convinced—almost convinced that Edith was right. "You may go now, Florian," he said. And the boy departed, fully convinced that his father had disbelieved him.
CHAPTER IV.
MR. BLAKE OF CARNLOUGH.
Three or four days after the occurrences narrated in the last chapter, Mr. Jones got on to his car and had himself driven down to Carnlough, the seat of Mr. Thomas Blake, a gentleman living about two miles the other side of Tuam. To reach Carnlough he had a journey to make of about ten miles, and as he seldom went, in these days, so far away from home, the fact of his going was known to all the household.
"Father is going to Carnlough," Florian said to Peter, the butler. "What is he going for?"