"I know it."
Robert Morton gasped, then lapsed into stunned silence.
"Without goin' into any details or discussin' any ladies we know, my advice would be to make a clean breast of the whole thing," the little old man announced, avoiding Robert Morton's eyes and blowing a ring of smoke from his pipe impersonally toward the low ceiling. "Have it out with Zenas Henry an' set yourself right with the Belleport folks. You don't want to do nothin' under cover."
"No, I don't," rejoined the younger man quickly. "The reason I didn't do so in the first place was because Zenas Henry was so upset when he heard about Madam Lee that we—I thought—"
"He's calmed down now, ain't he?"
"Yes, he seems to have accepted the facts, especially as the Galbraiths have not been near him and have let the whole matter drop. Of course that is only a temporary condition, however. Mr. Galbraith has been in New York attending to important matters ever since Madam Lee's death. What will be done when he returns I do not know; but he will do something—you may be sure of that."
"That ain't no special business of yours or mine, is it?" Willie remarked. "All that concerns you is to let both those men know where you stand—Zenas Henry first, 'cause he's been like a father to Delight; an' Mr. Galbraith afterwards, 'cause—" he hesitated for the fraction of a second, "'cause the Galbraiths are the girl's nearest of kin an' legally, I s'pose, have a right—"
"Yes," interrupted Robert Morton hastily.
"When you get things all squared up, we'll talk more about it," continued Willie. "But 'til you do the affair ain't open an' above board, an' I don't want nothin' to do with it. The top of the ocean is good enough for me; I never was much on swimmin' under water."
He broke off abruptly to refill his pipe.