“Hush! Silence! Hold your tongue!” cried Sir Gordon impatiently. “Look here—her father—I want to talk about him.”
“About Mr Hallam?”
“Yes. What do you think of him now?”
Bayle laid his hand upon Sir Gordon’s.
“We are old friends, Sir Gordon; I know your little secret; you know mine. Don’t ask me that question.”
“As a very old trusty friend I do ask you. Bayle, it is a duty. Look here, man; I hold an important trust in connection with that bank. I’m afraid I have not done my duty. It is irksome to me, a wealthy man, and I am so much away yachting. Let me see; you never have had dealings with us.”
“No, Sir Gordon, never.”
“Well, as I was saying, I am so much away. You are always feeling the pulses of the people. Now, as you are a great deal at Hallam’s, tell me as a friend in a peculiar position, what do you think of Hallam?”
“Do you mean as a friend?”
“I mean as a business man, as our manager. What do the people say?”