“Fred!” cried Max, in alarm.
“Yes,” said that gentleman savagely—“if you must blab it out.”
“Tom, Tom,” whispered Jessie, “for your own sake save him,—he is your brother.”
He turned from her with a sigh, as he freed himself from her grasp and placed her hands in those of her mother.
“And this is my child!” groaned Dick.
“Oh, father!” cried Jessie, “don’t condemn me unheard. Frederick, speak out.”
“Not I,” he said cynically. “Why should I?”
“And this is my son!” exclaimed Max, who was completely taken aback.
“There, don’t cant, old man,” cried Fred, brutally. “I don’t suppose you have always been so very particular.”
“Fred!” exclaimed Tom savagely, “it is enough that you have brought this disgrace upon your uncle, without insulting the poor girl you have injured.”