“And you mean me to understand that you think I have no right to it?”
“I have my doubts upon the matter.”
“You think I am an impostor—that I have been seeking Miss Dalton’s affections under false pretentions—under an assumed name?” Earle demanded, with dignity.
“I have had some such idea; yes,” Mr. Dalton answered, with a strange smile.
“Mr. Dalton, what do you mean? What do you really know about me?”
Mr. Dalton replied only by a low laugh, and Earle continued, with some excitement:
“My name is Earle Wayne—it is the name that my mother gave to me upon my birth, and I will now say——”
“Your mother!” he interrupted, and a scornful, bitter laugh rang out, making both his listeners shudder, it was so fiendishly unnatural.
“Papa, why do you talk like this? Why are you so prejudiced against Earle?” Editha burst forth, unable to bear any more.
“‘Prejudice’ is a very mild term, Editha,” he replied with glittering eyes.