So the Captain wrote nothing. During all the afternoon he sat at his desk with a leaden heart, watching Peter move about the room. The old man maintained more or less the posture of writing, but his thoughts were occupied in pitying himself and pitying Peter. Half a dozen times he looked up, on the verge of making some plea, some remonstrance, against the madness of this brown man. But the sight of Peter sitting in the window-seat staring out into the street silenced him. He was a weak old man, and Peter's nerves were strung with the desire of youth.
At last the two men heard old Rose clashing in the kitchen. A few minutes later the secretary excused himself from the library, to go to his own room. As Peter was about to pass through the door, the Captain was suddenly galvanized into action by the thought that this perhaps was the last time he would ever see him. He got up from his chair and called shakenly to Peter. The negro paused. The Captain moistened his lips and controlled his voice.
"I want to have a word with you, Peter, about a—a little matter. I— I've mentioned it before."
"Yes, sir." The negro's tone and attitude reminded the Captain that the supper gong would soon sound and they would best separate at once.
"It—it's about Cissie Dildine," the old lawyer hurried on.
Peter nodded slightly.
"Yes, you mentioned that before."
The old man lifted a thin hand as if to touch Peter's arm, but he did not. A sort of desperation seized him.
"But listen, Peter, you don't want to do—what's in your mind!"
"What is in my mind, Captain?"