"Not until I receive Mona's answer from her own lips," he snarled, and looked a very ugly customer in his impotent wrath.
"Miss Chent to you," said the girl equably.
"Mona! Mona!" vociferated the captain, "I have a double right to call you by your christian name."
"I did not even know that you had a single right," she retorted.
"I have; Sir Oliver wished us to marry."
"Quite so, and for that reason I became engaged to Mr. Shepworth."
Prelice gave a gasp, and turned to his friend. Ned nodded. "It is true, Dorry," said the barrister. "When I was stopping here, during the lifetime of Sir Oliver, this man," he indicated Captain Jadby with contempt, "pestered Miss Chent with his attentions. Sir Oliver was on his side—why, I can't say—but——"
"I can tell you now," interrupted Jadby hoarsely; "I am Sir Oliver's son, and Mona is my cousin."
There was a second silence. "I don't believe it," said Prelice decidedly, and his opinion was echoed by Miss Chent and Shepworth.
Jadby threw back his handsome head scornfully. "It matters little what you believe," he said violently, "since what I say is the truth, and no denial can make it anything else. My mother was the daughter of a great chief of Tahiti."