"I don't dispute it. But I am concerned only in my own. Excuse me for speaking roughly."
"I excuse you readily, and may perhaps have cause to be grateful to you. Other persons whom you honor may also have cause to be grateful that what you had to say to this gentleman was said in my presence. Let this assurance content you, and give me the favor of your company when you leave this house."
"I'll do so, sir. I seem to be struggling in a net. A little mystery more or less won't matter much."
With a rough bow--in which there was some native grace of manner which well became him in his grief and perplexity--he left the room. The two gentlemen, being alone, waited each for the other to speak; but the silence was soon broken.
"The man's tale is true," said Mr. Hollingworth; "of that there can be no doubt. But I will not rashly commit myself to what may be an act of injustice. It remains for your nephew, Mr. Inglefield, to clear himself from the foul charge. If he cannot do so, he has played the part of an infamous scoundrel in the use he has made of my son's name; it is conduct which cannot be forgiven. Why, he might have ruined my lad at the very outset of his public career! If you were in my place, with an only son, upon whom all your hopes were set--for, although he has a sister, a girl counts for very little--would you overlook an act so base?"
"No," replied Mr. Manners. A sharp pang had passed through him at Mr. Hollingworth's reference to an only son. He thought of Kingsley, with his bright, ingenuous face, with his eager voice, and simple, loving ways, with his clear ideas of duty and honor. Yes, even duty, which, in the years that were gone, he had accused Kingsley of forgetting and neglecting, crept into his mind side by side with honor. A rash act to marry without a father's consent, against a father's wishes; but Kingsley was ever rash and impulsive, but never in a dishonorable direction--never! And the step being taken, he did not flinch from its consequences. He had thrown in his hard fortune with the woman to whom he had pledged his faith, and had not for one instant wavered in the course he had believed it was right to follow. Would his nephew, Mark Inglefield, have stood so unflinchingly firm; would he have withstood temptation as Kingsley had done? Mentally he surveyed the two men, and a sound like a groan escaped his lips.
"Have I pained you by my decision V asked Mr. Hollingworth, in a solicitous tone.
"No; it is just. My thoughts were upon another matter."
The sadness of his voice impressed Mr. Hollingworth, and he remembered that Mr. Manners had an only son, whom he had cast off for disobedience. This remembrance came to him now with strange significance. Mr. Parkinson had mentioned the name of Mrs. Manners, and had described her as an angel of goodness. Was it possible that some close relation existed between these two who bore the same name?
"You had a son," he ventured to say.