“I am afraid it will be difficult to clear your father’s name from suspicion. Already I’ve heard these ugly rumors whispered about everywhere. Nothing would set them at rest, unless I were to say that I myself had sent Blewitt away to his home in London.”
“That would not be true.”
“But it would save your father’s reputation.”
Freda said nothing. Her mistrust of this man made her shrewd. After a long pause she turned and looked straight into his face.
“Why do you tell me this?”
“I wanted to know whether you would care to have your father’s name cleared.”
“Not in such a way as that. I believe the best thing for my poor father would be for the whole truth to come out, and though the falsehood might seem to protect his name for the time, it would do less real good than quietly waiting.”
“Then you wouldn’t do me any little favour, out of gratitude if I tried to shield his name?”
“Little favour! Oh! and what is that?”
“For instance, you wouldn’t get Crispin Bean to deal with us instead of with Josiah Kemm?”