“Oh, don’t call him that!” she cried. “He is good, father. Indeed, indeed, he is good. And he saved your life.”
He sat back at that, as if her words shifted his thoughts to another matter. “Tell me again,” he said, sternly, but more calmly. “He told you this tale yesterday, did he? Well, tell me as he told you, do you hear? And mind you, if you’re lying, you slut, he or you, ’twill come up! I am blind, and you may think to deceive me now as you have deceived me before——”
“Never, never again, sir!” she vowed. Then she told him afresh, from point to point, what she had learned on the Sunday.
“Then the lad didn’t come up till after?”
“Arthur? No, sir. Not till after Thomas was gone. And it was Clement who followed Thomas to Birmingham and got the money back.” For Clement had told her that also.
When she had done, the Squire leant forward and felt again for his stick, as if he were now equipped and ready for action. “Well, you begone,” he said, harshly. “You begone, now. I’ll see to this.”
But, “Not till you forgive me,” she entreated, holding him close, and pressing her face against his unwilling breast. “And there’s more, there’s more, sir,” in growing agitation, “I must tell you. Be good to me, oh, be good to me! Forgive me and help him.”
“Help him!” the Squire cried, and this time he was indeed amazed. “I help him! Help the man who has gone behind my back and stolen my girl! Help the man who—let me go! Do you hear me, girl! Let me get up, you shameless hussy!” growing moment by moment more himself, as he recovered from the shock of her disclosure, and could measure its extent. “How do I know what you are? Or what he mayn’t have done to you? Help, indeed? Help the d—d rascal who has robbed me? Who has dared to raise his eyes to my girl—a Griffin? Who——”
“He saved your life,” she cried, pleading desperately with him, though he strove to free himself. “Oh, father, he saved your life! And I love him! I love him! If you part us I shall die.”
He could not struggle against her young strength, and he gave up the attempt to free himself. He sank back in his chair. “D—n the girl!” he cried. He sat silent, breathing hard.