“To do me wrong,� said Lewis under his breath.
Skelton pretended not to hear. He then carefully and in detail went over the whole thing with Lewis, who happened to know all about it through Bulstrode. The only answer Skelton got out of the boy was a dogged
“I don’t want it at the price I have to pay for it. You wouldn’t want to exchange your respectability for anything.�
“But have I no claim upon you, Lewis?� asked Skelton. His tone was hard to resist. It conveyed an appeal as well as a right; but Lewis resisted.
“I don’t know,� he said in a distressed voice; “all I know is that I believe that I am Lewis Pryor, and I want to stay Lewis Pryor; and if—if—you do as you say, you may make me a rich man some day, but you make me the inferior of everybody. I know it; I’ve talked it out with Mr. Bulstrode.�
“And what did Bulstrode say?� asked Skelton, his face darkening. But Lewis was wary beyond his years.
“I’d rather not tell, sir; Mr. Bulstrode wouldn’t like it.�
“I’m sure he wouldn’t like it,� answered Skelton sardonically, “the ungrateful old good-for-nothing! But I can guess easily enough what he has been up to.�
Lewis felt that he was playing a losing game, but he only repeated:
“The Blairs will get that money.�