“I didn’t—I swear I didn’t! I never put finger on the stuff till dad handed it over to me. What right had he to keep us without a penny all those years, when riches were there for the taking?”
“He could do what he liked with his own, I conclude. At any rate, the end justified the means. A pretty use you made of your vile extortion—a bloody vengeance is the price you pay for it!”
At that he gave a sudden cry.
“I’m lost—I know it! Help me to escape. Renny, help me to escape.”
“Do you think you deserve that of me, Jason?”
He dropped upon his knees, an abject, wailing figure.
“I don’t—I don’t! But you’re generous—Renalt, I always thought you good and generous, when I laughed at you most. Save me from that terror! He strikes at me in the dark—I never know where his hideous face will show next. He follows me—haunts me—tries to poison me, to torture me to death! Oh, Renny, help me!”
“Answer me truly first. For how long were you robbing the old man?”
“I may have had small sums of him for a year—nothing much. When Zyp and I made up our minds to go, I bid for a larger, and he gave it me.”
“He didn’t know you were married?”