Jacob Farnum choked.
"I—I can't promise that, Mrs. Rhinds. You'll never believe how hard it is for me to refuse you."
"Then you do believe my husband guilty?" demanded Mrs. Rhinds, in a voice full of agony.
"Oh, I wish I could say what you want me to, Mrs. Rhinds, but—well, all
I can do is to remain silent."
"Can't I say something—something?" asked Helen Rhinds, appealingly.
Her moist eyes turned first on Mr. Farnum, then on Captain Jack.
"Ladies," confessed the Dunhaven shipbuilder, "you've already said enough, as I looked at your faces, to make me almost feel that I am one of the worst men alive."
"Oh, no, no, no!" protested the girl. "You are going to prove yourself the most generous."
Then, turning, the girl caught at one of Benson's hands appealingly.
"You urge him!" she begged.
"When the chief has spoken I must be silent," Jack answered, clearly, though in a low voice.