"I care nothing for any warning which comes from you, Mr. Wilkes. Why did my uncle commit suicide?"
"What do you mean by asking me such a question? Do you imagine that if I knew I should tell you?"
"Does that mean that you know?"
"It means nothing of the sort; but it does mean that if I had any such secret knowledge, the only person to whom I should breathe a word of it would be his daughter."
"That you certainly would not do. Miss Patterson's heartfelt prayer is that she may never know. That he had some shameful reason is plain; if it can be kept from her it shall be; if it reaches her through you, you will deserve to be whipped."
"Mr. Elmore, I knew your father."
"That's more, Mr. Wilkes, than I ever did."
"His end was like your uncle's."
"So I learned from my uncle before--he ended. And it is because the shame of what he did seems to rest on me, in the mouths of such as you, that I am resolved to shield my cousin--if I can. I imagine that, in a strictly scientific sense, you are, in part, responsible for my uncle's fate."
"How do you arrive at that--somewhat startling conclusion?"