"Yes: I know."
"Who told you?"
"Cap'n Billy told me that he is not my father; he does not know who my father is. My mother was very faithful to you, and to him! He told me how she came to him—afterward! She did not want Cap'n Billy to save her his way,—she thought it was not fair to him, but Cap'n Billy had but one kind of love! He married her, and he took care of her! You don't know how cruel these people can be to—to girls like my mother, but Cap'n Billy knew, and he saved her!" The dark eyes were blazing.
"Be less hard, my child," groaned Devant, turning his face away; "God knows, I have suffered!" Janet paid small heed to the words, or to the man beside her.
"At the last," she went on bravely, "they were happy in a beautiful way for a little while. Then she died! But I was left, and Cap'n Billy loved me, and cared for me. He was father, mother, playmate, everything to me!" The eyes softened, and the girl turned and faced her companion. "And," she breathed hoarsely, "you and I must keep him from ever knowing the rest!"
"The rest?" Devant asked slowly.
"Yes. About you. I am not doing this only because I love him better than anything else on earth. I am doing it for my mother! It is all that she and I can do for him. Will you promise?"
Devant leaned against a tree. Motion was no longer possible. Janet stood in the path and waited. The brute instinct arose in the man's heart. This was his child! In doing for her lay the only expiation possible for him in the world. What were the claims of that man over on the dunes compared to his, should he powerfully press them? What if Captain Billy had given his life to the doing of a duty belonging to another? The Tempter now took on a virtuous, unselfish guise. Think what the girl's life might be! Could any true love, even such stupid love as Billy might bear her, stand in the way? No; Billy would be the first to relinquish his hold upon her!
With the calm, steady, waiting eyes upon him, Devant dared not urge his first claim of parentage. He would appeal to her reason.
"This is hardly a question for you to put to me," he said. "I must see Captain Billy and talk to him man to man."