“So it was stated, and so it was believed by all excepting the gentleman who has the honor to stand before you.” He laughed unctuously. “I had my suspicions from the first, and I found them justified when I saw Miss Doris Marlowe in her charming performance the other evening, and, on inquiry, found that she was the daughter of Mr. Jeffrey Flint!”
Jeffrey wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened his lips, but he seemed deprived of the power of speech.
“You must permit me,” continued the softly mocking voice, “to congratulate you upon the result of your excellent training. The young lady is a most talented actress—most charming! But, my dear Jeffrey, does it not occur to you sometimes that it is, to use the vulgar slang of the day, rather rough upon her? To deprive a young and helpless girl of her rank and position——”
Jeffrey extended his trembling hands entreatingly.
“Stop—stop!” he panted. “I—I did it for the best—I did it for her good——”
Spenser Churchill laughed mockingly.
“Yes!” cried Jeffrey, rising with sudden despair. “For her good! You saw her—you saw how happy, how innocent she is! All her life has been happy and free from care. What would it have been if I had yielded her back to the man who broke her mother’s heart, the man who would have hated her for that mother’s sake? Man, man, don’t torture me with your devilish smile! I did it for the best!”
Spenser Churchill laughed again.
“Dear, dear!” he murmured, “how dreadfully easy it is to deceive oneself! Now, here are you, a most excellent man, I have no doubt, my dear Jeffrey, actually persuading yourself that in robbing another man of his only child and depriving her of her rights, you have been committing a noble and virtuous action! Now I am sorry to say that I don’t agree with you! I’ve no doubt you have become attached to the girl——”
Jeffrey put up his hand.