"Then we may consider it settled!" cried Helston, rising.
Perhaps his haste betrayed how he was yearning to get away, for a look of suspicion crossed the vicar's face.
"Do you not think I have a right to ask you to be more explicit?" he said.
His visitor looked down, and it was after an interval that he slowly said:
"You have a right. I ask you to waive it. What I have heard rests wholly upon Melicent's word, which, I understand, you do not trust."
The vicar could not say that he did.
"You would not take her word against that of your own children?"
"Certainly not!"
"That is natural enough; but it convinces me that there is no more to be said."
The vicar looked down, thinking deeply. Then abruptly, and perhaps with the deliberate idea of taking the other by surprise, he demanded: