'Mrs Pansey's for one.'
'Father!' cried Gabriel, 'surely you know that Mrs Pansey's gossip is most unreliable.'
'Not in this instance,' replied the bishop, promptly. 'Mrs Pansey told me some twenty-six years ago, when Miss Whichello brought her niece to this city, that the child's father was little better than a gaol-bird.'
'Did she know him?' asked George, sharply.
'That I cannot say, but she assured me that she spoke the truth. I paid no attention to her talk, nor did I question Miss Whichello on the subject. In those days it had no interest for me, but now that I find my son desires to marry the girl, I must refuse my consent until I learn all about her birth and parentage.'
'Miss Whichello will tell us about that!' said George, hopefully.
'Let us trust that Miss Whichello dare tell us.'
'Dare, sir!' cried Captain Pendle, gnawing his moustache.
'I used the word advisedly, George. If what Mrs Pansey asserts is true, Miss Whichello will feel a natural reluctance to confess the truth about Miss Arden's father.'
'Admitting as much,' urged Gabriel, seeing that George kept silent, 'surely you will not visit the sins of the father on the innocent child?'