'That he never married her. That she acted as his housekeeper. And that — she committed suicide.'
'Is that all you found out?'
'My God!' I cried. 'Isn't that enough? Your father drove my mother mad. He kept her shut up in that attic room where I slept. To leave a husband and a child and then find her lover married. Not only that, but when your mother died, he still didn't marry her. She remained here as housekeeper, and he married Kitty's mother. God — it was enough to send any woman mad.'
He shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, it's a strange world,' he said. His eyes seemed to laugh at me — or perhaps it was some trick of the carbon gaslight. It was almost as though he relished the situation. If so, he had the devil's own sense of humour. I felt angry and bitter — and frustrated. I should have thrashed that fiendish old man. It was what he deserved. Instead I'd let him walk away down the gallery telling me my mother was a fine woman. I could still see the yellow glow of his lamp bobbing along the gallery.
'Well, it's done now,' Manack said. There's nothing you can do about it. But it's a strange coincidence, you coming here like this.'
'Yes,' I said. 'It's a strange coincidence.'
'How long will it take you to blast through to the sea bed?' His voice was suddenly matter of fact.
'A day or two,' I replied vaguely. 'I hadn't given it a thought.'
'We'll go back now,' he said. 'You can start this afternoon.'
'I'll need help,' I told him.