"Hang him for a simpleton!" burst forth Mr. Dare.
"It is all so much discredit to the name—to the family altogether," concluded Mr. Ashley, as if his sentence had not been interrupted.
"The faults of his brothers ought to be no good reason for your rejecting Cyril."
"They are not my reason for rejecting him," quietly returned Mr. Ashley.
"No? You have just said they were."
"I said the notoriety given by your sons to the name of Dare would bar its association with mine. In saying 'your sons,' I included Cyril himself. He interposes the greatest barrier of all. Were the rest of them of good report in the sight of day, Cyril is not so."
"What's the matter with him?" asked Mr. Dare.
"I do not care to tell you. A great deal of it you must know."
"Go on," cried Anthony Dare, who was leaning forward in his chair, his chin resting on his stick, as one who sets himself calmly to hear the whole.
"Cyril's private conduct is bad. He——"