'Ay, but how is the gratitude going to be shown?'
Her keen sense found a fear in his manner of speaking.
'You have not said a word to him,' she asked, seeming to forget his question.
Of what ultimate use was it to lie? And she would not suffer him within reach of her.
'I couldn't very well help doing that,' he replied, unable to resolve how it were best to speak, and uttering the first words that came, carelessly.
'Then he knows you have discovered—'
Her voice failed. Such explanation of her father's absence was a new terror.
'Yes, he knows,' Dagworthy answered, cruelty resuming its fascination. 'I couldn't keep him at the mill, you know, though I let him off his punishment.'
'You dismissed him?'
'I did. It's not too late to have him back, and something better.'