“Something like that,” Jack muttered, avoiding her steady gaze.
“I don’t like being a party to anything I fail to understand. Jack, if you expect me to keep quiet about this, you’ll have to make a promise.”
“What is it?”
“That you’ll not go to the Harpers’ again.”
“Okay, I’ll promise,” Jack agreed promptly. “The truth is, I’ve had enough of the place. Now, is the lecture concluded?”
“Quite finished,” Penny replied.
With troubled eyes she watched Jack return to the boathouse and hand her money to the bushy-haired stranger.
“Maybe that fellow isn’t Glowershick,” she thought, “but he certainly looks like the picture. If Jack should be mixed up with those brass thieves—”
Penny deliberately dismissed the idea from her mind. A guest of the Gandiss’ family, she could not permit herself to distrust Jack. He was inclined to be wild, irresponsible and at times arrogant, yet she had never questioned his basic character. Even though it disturbed her to know that he had given money to the stranger, she refused to believe that he was dishonest or that he would betray his father’s trust.
If Penny hoped that Jack would offer a complete explanation for his actions, she was disappointed. After the stranger had gone, he deliberately avoided her. And that night at dinner, he had very little to say.