For the second time Aylmer hesitated before he spoke.
"It seems to me," he said slowly, "that in this part of the world I am responsible for the good name which he is smirching. He has gone to Tangier—not only to save his skin. He has gone to commence a campaign of terrorization against the Van Arlens. Merely as an Aylmer I have to pit my hand against his, merely to clear our name and to do my duty. And there is more than that. Since Landon, for moral purposes, is dead, I consider that morally, and very possibly legally, I am the child's guardian. To keep my trust I have to safeguard the child from his father."
Despard tapped his fingers doubtfully upon the mantelpiece.
"And the Van Arlens?" he questioned.
There were tones in his voice which made Aylmer pause over his portmanteau.
"The Van Arlens? I am, of course, going to them direct."
Despard hesitated.
"You can't work with them," he said at last. "They won't accept your help."
A flicker of emotion, first of pain and then of purpose, gleamed in Aylmer's eyes.
"But they may need it," he answered. He looked at Despard searchingly.