Scoville?"
"You allude to the unexplained separation between himself and
father, and not to any failure on his part to sustain the
reputation of his family?"
"Oh, he has made a good position for himself, and earned universal
consideration. But that doesn't weigh against the prejudices of
people, roused by such eccentricities as have distinguished the
conduct of these two men."
"Alas!" she murmured, frightened to the soul for the first time,
both by his manner and his words.
"You know and I know," he went on with a grimness possibly
suggested by his subject, "that no mere whim lies back of such a
preposterous seclusion as that of Judge Ostrander behind his
double fence. Sons do not cut loose from fathers or fathers from
sons without good cause. You can see, then, that the peculiarities
of their mutual history form but a poor foundation for any light
refutation of this scandal, should it reach the public mind. Judge
Ostrander knows this, and you know that he knows this; hence your
distress. Have I not read your mind, madam?"
"No one can read my mind any more than they can read Judge
Ostrander's," she avowed in a last desperate attempt to preserve
her secret. "You may think you have done so, but what assurance
can you have of the fact?"
"You are strong in their defence," said he, "and you will need to
be if the matter ever comes up. The shadows from Dark Hollow reach
far, and engulf all they fall upon."
"Mr. Black"--she had re-risen the better to face him--"you want
something from me--a promise, or a condition.
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