"If you will come with me," replied Dr. Perriera, "all shall be explained. No, not you, or you"--Kingsley and Nansie had both risen, in token of their willingness to assist him. "Leave the matter in our hands. I am at present," he added, glancing at Mr. Manners, "somewhat in the dark, and perhaps I have small right to inquire into your motives. What chiefly concerns me, as taking what I may call a vital interest in the poor people among whom I have passed my life, is that a worthy man has been foully wronged, and a weak-minded girl beguiled by the arts of a scoundrel. To right this wrong I am willing to make some sacrifice, if only in the cause of justice."
While he spoke, Mr. Manners, without thinking, had laid the portrait of Mark Inglefield on the table, and Kingsley, looking down, recognized it. A sudden paleness came on his face, and Nansie, following the direction of his eyes, also looked at the portrait and recognized it. For a moment or two no one spoke, and then Kingsley whispered a few words to Nansie, and she left the room in silence.
"Before you go with Dr. Perriera," said Kingsley to his father, "there is something that must be said. It refers to this man, in whose company I now learn you came here this morning."
"Speak, Kingsley," said Mr. Manners, extending his hand to his son; but Kingsley did not attempt to take it. "Do you doubt me, Kingsley?"
"No, father," said Kingsley, with a certain decision in his voice and manner which surprised his listeners, "I do not doubt you; I never have, and I never shall. Most earnestly do I hope that we shall never be separated again."
"We never shall, Kingsley," said Mr. Manners, "if it rests with me. You have no reason to trust my word--"
"I have every reason," interrupted Kingsley, impetuously. "You have never swerved from it; you have been always just. It is not"--and now there was a heightened color in his face as he pointed to the portrait--"because this man was my enemy that I regard him with horror, but because I have grounds for suspicion that he sought to defame the dearest, purest woman that ever drew the breath of heaven. For me, he may pass by unscathed, though I would not defile myself by touching his hand; but for another, whom I love and honor as an angel on earth, I would drag his foul lie to light, and throw it in his teeth! I have erred, but never in my life have I done conscious wrong. What there is best in me, father, I draw from you." Mr. Manners sighed and turned his head. "You never deceived man or woman, and you transmitted to me an inheritance of right-doing which has been more precious to me than gold. Answer me candidly, father. Did not this man traduce my wife?"
"He did; and, Heaven forgive me, I believed him."
"And now?"
"And now," said Mr. Manners, stretching forth his hands, "there is no penance I would deem too great to repair the injustice I have committed. The man who traduced you and your honored wife is no longer my friend. Without you, my son, and Nansie and Hester, I should be alone in the world."