"That don't. That sha'n't. I'll have it out of him, that's all; he's not the Church o' Rome yet! Go on. Go on."
"I went myself. No one knew. I left her alone time I was gone."
"And you brought him back with you?"
"Well, he got here first. He ran all the way."
"He knew better than to let me catch him. Jesuit! How long was he with her?"
"Not long, Jasper, not long indeed!"
"And you heard nothing?"
"Not a word. I stayed downstairs. I had to promise her that before I went. She had something to say to Mr. Carlton that nobody else must know."
"But somebody else shall!" said Jasper grimly. "That was it, you may depend; you should have listened at the door. But that make no matter. Somebody else is going to know before he's many minutes older!"
And an ugly smile broadened on the thick-set face; but the woman gasped. Quick as thought the child was on the sofa, the grandmother on her feet. Trembling and terrified, she stood in her husband's path.