"You frightened me for a moment, Alister!"
"How could I, Ian?"
"It was but a nervo-mechanical fright. I knew well enough you could mean nothing I should not like. But I see trouble ahead, Alister!"
"We shall be called a pack of fools, but what of that! We shall be told the money itself was clean, however dirty the hands that made it! The money-grubs!"
"I would rather see you hanged, than pocketing a shilling of it!"
"Of course you would! But the man who could pocket it, will be relieved to find it is only his daughter I care about."
"There will be difficulty, Alister, I fear. How much have you said to Mercy?"
"I have SAID nothing definite."
"But she understands?"
"I think—I hope so.—Don't you think Christina is much improved, lan?"