"
"What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" asked the bewildered captain of
the "Vixen."
"Do not press me for my meaning, Captain Duncombe," answered George, in
a repellant tone; "you are my father-in-law. The knowledge which
accident revealed to me of one dark secret in your life of seeming
honesty came too late to prevent that tie between us. When the fatal
truth revealed itself to me I was already your daughter's husband. That
secures my silence. Do not force yourself upon me. I shall do my duty
to your daughter as if you and your crime had never been upon this
earth. But you and I can never meet again except as foes. The
remembrance of my brother Valentine is part and parcel of my life, and
a wrong done to him is twice a wrong to myself."
The captain of the "Vixen" had arisen from his chair. He stood before
his son-in-law, breathless, crimson with passion.
"George Jernam," he cried, "do you want me to knock you down? Egad, my
fine gentleman, you may consider yourself lucky that I have not done it
before this. What do you mean by all that balderdash you've been
talking? What does it all mean, I say? Are you drunk, or mad, or both?"
"Captain Duncombe," said George, calmly, "do you really wish me to
speak plainly?"
"It will be very much the worse for you if you don't," retorted the
infuriated captain.
"First, then, let me tell you that before I left River View Cottage
last July, your daughter pressed me to avail myself of the contents of
your desk one day when I was in want of foreign letter-paper.
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