"I didn't expect that I should have to come here, but Farrell says that since that trial at Castletown you have not been responsible, and if things go farther he'll have to put you away."
"Put me away?"
"Don't you understand?—the asylum."
"He doesn't know, father, and neither do you...."
"I don't want to know. If you had listened to me long ago this wouldn't have happened. But I'm not here to reproach you. I'm here to advise you to do something for your own good—mine, too, everybody's."
"What is that, father?"
Gell had expected the usual storm and his father's emotion was moving him deeply.
"Leave the island before anything worse happens. Look" (the Speaker drew a stout envelope from his breast pocket), "I've just been to the bank for you. A thousand pounds in Bank of England notes, and if it's not enough there's more where that came from. Take it and go away at once—to America—anywhere."
Alick drew back and his lips tightened. "This is a trick to get me to desert Bessie," he thought.
"I can't do it," he said, and he pushed back the old man's trembling hand.