Pearson looked at him in amazement.
“You see!” he repeated. “You—Why! Did you know it?”
“I’ve been afraid of it for some time. To-night, when you left me alone there in the quarter-deck of that opera house, I happened to hear two young chaps talkin’ about it. So you might say I knew—Yes.”
“Good heavens! and you can stand there and—What are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know—yet.”
“Are you going to permit her to marry that—that fellow?”
“Well, I ain’t sartin that I can stop her.”
“My God, man! Do you realize—and she—your niece—why—”
“There! there! Jim. I realize it all, I cal’late. It’s my business to realize it.”
“And it isn’t mine. No, of course it isn’t; you’re right there.”