"He has gone as far as that already," retorted Haskins, stretching out his long legs and looking gloomily at the carpet, "what do you call keeping that girl's money from her and shutting her up but criminal?"
"Still if he had reasons--good reasons?"
"He had none, either good or bad. Dear Mrs. Pelham Odin," Gerald rose, and laid his hand on the old woman's arm, "hear what I have to say. This is the time when you can show yourself my friend by protecting one who is dear to me."
The actress recoiled, powerfully effected and very genuinely. "I cannot mix myself up in a crime," she faltered.
"You will not be doing so, if you substitute Mavis for Charity, as you suggested when I was last here."
"Oh," Mrs. Pelham Odin clasped her pretty, withered hands, and stepped back a pace to be more dramatic. "Think of the scandal."
"There will be no scandal."
"My name will be brought into disrepute. And let me tell you, Mr. Haskins, that my name both on and off the stage, is above reproach."
"I am quite sure of that, else I certainly should not ask you to take charge of the woman I hope to make my wife."
"You will marry her still?"