The colonel sprang from his seat. 'Be calm,' said Dick.
'I am calm,' cried the colonel, not saying another word, so fearful was he of what Dick might tell him next.
'That would not, perhaps, so much matter,' Dick said, coming to rest at the back of a chair, 'if it were not that Mary seems to have an equal regard for him.'
Colonel Abinger's hands clutched the edge of the table, and it was not a look of love he cast at Dick.
'If this be true,' he exclaimed, his voice breaking in agitation, 'I shall never forgive you, Richard, never. But I don't believe it.'
Dick felt sorry for his father.
'It is a fact that has to be faced,' he said, more gently.
'Why, why, why, the man is a pauper!'
'Not a bit of it,' said Dick. 'He may be on the regular staff of the Wire any day now.'
'You dare to look me in the face, and tell me you have encouraged this, this——' cried the colonel, choking in a rush of words.