"Walter, you are not in a condition to be contradicted," she said gently, "but I know you are mistaken as to Mr. Castlemaine. He could not hold any cognisance of such an affair of cheating as this--or his son either."
"Why, the business is theirs, ma'am; their very own: father don't feel a doubt of it. The Commodore only manages it for 'em."
"You may have been led to suppose that: but it is not, cannot be true. My Uncle James is the soul of honour. Can you suppose it likely that a gentleman like Mr. Castlemaine would lend himself to a long continued system of fraud?"
"I've always thought 'twas his," groaned Walter. "I've seen him there standing to look on."
"You must have been mistaken. Did you see him there to-night?"
"No, ma'am."
"Nor any other night, my poor lad, as I will venture to answer for."
"He might have been there to-night, though, without my seeing him," returned the young man, who seemed scarcely conscious of her words.
"How should you have left the vaults, but for this accident?" she asked, the question striking her.
"I had locked the door on the sea, and was going straight up the passage to the Hutt," he groaned, the pain in his side getting intolerable.