He gulped and cleared his throat, but could only point nervelessly at the cowering figure before him.
“Father! What is the matter?”
“You wouldn’t come, Renalt—you wouldn’t come! I prayed for you to come.”
“What has he been doing?”
“It was all the old horror over again. Send him away! Don’t let him come near me!”
I was falling distracted. I turned to Jason once more.
“Come! Out with it!” I said. “What have you been doing?”
He strove to smile. His face was ghastly—pinched and lined.
“Nothing,” he said at last, with a choking cluck in his throat. “I have done nothing.”
“Don’t believe him,” moaned my father. “He wanted all; he wanted to sink me to ruin.”