"You alone?"
Captain Jemmy, after struggling for a moment with the wrath in his throat, answered:
"I refuse to say."
"Well, well, the affair seems to need some explanation, but doubtless admits of a very good one. It is none of my business, and I do not ask you to satisfy me. But I cannot help thinking that Roderick Salt will be hardly more astonished to find that his son is a man of large estates than disposed to make inquiries."
"What do you mean, my lord?"
"I mean that, as father and son happen at this moment to lie aboard the same vessel, the Good Intent—"
The chair which Captain Barker had been grasping and tilting impatiently fell to the floor with a crash.
"—I foresee a scene of happy recognition and mutual explanations. We will suppose the father to learn the truth before to-morrow's punishment is inflicted. We will picture his feelings"—the Earl paused, and fired a shot more or less at a venture—"when he becomes aware that, though by law enabled to buy his son off from military service, he has by chicanery been rendered powerless. We will imagine him an enforced spectator, wincing as each stroke draws blood."
"You will do this thing! You will tell him!"
"My dear sirs, I shall hate to do it. In proof that I speak sincerely, let me say that my offer still remains open. May I now count on your accepting it?"