Mrs. Forel turned so that she could see her companion. "That is not what I mean, and I think I had better talk quite straight to you. Now I like Mr. Seaforth and Mr. Alton, too, and as Jack is mixed up in some business of theirs and they are going to stay down in Vancouver we shall probably see a good deal of them. Jack, however, is sometimes a little hasty in making friends, and I want to know the other reason that brought Mr. Seaforth out from the old country."
"You fancy there is one?" Thorne said quietly.
"Yes. Lieutenant Atkinson made a little blunder one night when he spoke of him."
"Atkinson never had very much sense," Thorne said dryly. "I, however, fancied a man took his standing among you according to what he did in this country."
"Yes," said Mrs. Forel. "The trouble is that the man who has crossed the line once may do so again. Well, you see who these people are, and if he meets them here it means that I vouch for him."
Thorne sighed. "If Atkinson has blundered, I am afraid that I must speak. Now I don't think you need be afraid of Seaforth crossing that line again. He was not worse than foolish and somebody victimized him, but he has had his punishment and borne it very well—while if you knew the whole story you would scarcely blame him."
"And that is all you can tell me?"
"Yes," said Thorne, very quietly. "Still, I can add that if Charley ever comes back to the old country I—and my mother and sisters—would be glad to welcome him."
"That I think should be sufficient," said Mrs. Forel, who was acquainted with Commander Thorne's status in the old country.
It was a little later when Alton glanced towards Thorne, who was talking to Alice Deringham. "I could get on with that man," he said. "You knew him, Charley?"