“I have seen my friend Sarrazin,” Randal began, “and I have persuaded him to trust me with Catherine’s present address. I can send Herbert there immediately, if you will only help me.”
“How can I help you?”
“Will you allow me to tell my brother that your engagement is broken off?”
Bennydeck shrank from the painful allusion, and showed it.
Randal explained. “I am grieved,” he said, “to distress you by referring to this subject again. But if my brother is left under the false impression that your engagement will be followed by your marriage, he will refuse to intrude himself on the lady who was once his wife.”
The Captain understood. “Say what you please about me,” he replied. “Unite the father and child—and you may reconcile the husband and wife.”
“Have you forgotten,” Randal asked, “that the marriage has been dissolved?”
Bennydeck’s answer ignored the law. “I remember,” he said, “that the marriage has been profaned.”