But to one of my temperament,
secret scandal and the gossip it engenders is only less painful than
open notoriety. If I leave the subject here, a thousand conjectures
will at once seize upon you, and my name if not hers will become,
before I know it, the football of gossip if not of worse and deeper
suspicion than has yet assailed me. Gentleman I take you to be honest
men; husbands, perhaps, and fathers; proud, too, in your way and
jealous of your own reputation and that of those with whom you are
connected. If I succeed in convincing you that my movements of late
have been totally disconnected with the girl whose cause you profess
solely to be interested in, may I count upon your silence as regards
those actions and the real motive that led to them?"
"You may count upon my discretion as regards all matters that do not
come under the scope of police duty," returned Mr. Gryce. "I haven't
much time for gossip."
"And your man here?"
"O, he's safe where it profits him to be."
"Very well, then, I shall count upon you."
And with the knitted brows and clinched hands of a proudly reticent
man who, perhaps for the first time in his life finds himself forced
to reveal his inner nature to the world, he began his story in these
words:
"Difficult as it is for me to introduce into a relation like this the
name of my father, I shall be obliged to do so in order to make my
conduct at a momentous crisis of my life intelligible to you.
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