The captain scarcely listened. "Well, it's all over Salthaven by now," he said, resignedly.
He seated himself on the bench with his hands hanging loosely between his knees, and tried to think. In any case he saw himself held up to ridicule, and he had a strong feeling that to tell the truth now would precipitate a crisis between Vyner and his chief clerk. The former would probably make a fairly accurate guess at the circumstances responsible for the rumour, and act accordingly. He glanced at Hartley standing awkwardly before him, and, not without a sense of self-sacrifice, resolved to accept the situation.
"Yes; Rosa had to be told," he said, philosophically. "Fate again; you can't avoid it."
Hartley took a turn or two up and down the path.
"The news came on me like a—like a thunderbolt," he said, pausing in front of the captain. "I hadn't the slightest idea of such a thing, and if I say what I think—"
"Don't!" interrupted the captain, warmly. "What's the good?"
"When were you married?" inquired the other. "Where were you married?"
"Joan made all the arrangements," said the captain, rising hastily. "Ask her."
"But—" said the astonished Hartley.
"Ask her," repeated the captain, walking toward the house and flinging the words over his shoulder. "I'm sick of it."