"I'm afraid you'll think me a soft kind of lawyer, Halliday, but this story of yours has touched me; it has, indeed!"
The captain nodded, and dropped into a chair.
"I thought it had," he said, simply. "Touch anybody, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, yes!" said Jasper, with a sigh. "It's very wrong, you know—altogether out of the line, but I suppose you've set your heart on hushing it up, eh?"
"I have, indeed," said the captain, eagerly. "And if you knew all you'd say the same."
"Haven't you told me all?" said Jasper, quietly. "I don't mean the boy's name; you can keep that if you like."
"No, I don't mean to conceal anything, if you'll help me," said the captain ingenuously. "Of course if you had decided not to, I should have kept dark about his name."
"Of course," said Jasper, with a smile; and he glanced at the slip of paper. "Well, perhaps you'd better tell me all, hadn't you?"
"I think I had," assented the captain. "Well, the youngster's name is—Etheridge?"