"Oh! I knew you were there," Clifford quietly returned. "I saw you almost as soon as I entered the hall, and your presence was a great inspiration--I feel I owe you a great deal for it."
"An inspiration!" repeated his companion, wonderingly.
"Yes; for I knew you had come to criticize--to ascertain for yourself if I had been able to work my own way through college and acquit myself creditably, and the knowledge proved a wonderful bracer for me. But you were telling me about your second meeting with Mr. Temple."
"Yes, I ran against him and his whole family just as I was leaving the grounds. They were a stunning party, and their carriage and horses as fine as one would care to see. But it nearly took Bill's breath away to see me--he looked as if he had met a ghost, though neither of us let on that he knew the other," the squire explained.
"And that man is my father!--you have taken my breath away by the revelation," said Clifford, with an air of bewilderment and a sudden sense of repulsion. "However, I have no desire to lay claim to any such relationship. Do you know where he went and how he made his money after he deserted my mother?"
"I've been told that he 'struck pay-gravel' in some Western mines; then went to San Francisco, where he set up as a banker, got into society there, and served one or two terms as Mayor of the city and met his present wife--who was a rich widow by the name of Wentworth and married her there. I learned this from a San Francisco man whom I met when I first came to Washington."
"When--how long ago was he married to this woman?" Clifford questioned, with a violent start.
"I'm sure I don't know--I haven't felt interest enough in their affairs to make any inquiries about the matter," said the squire indifferently. "I remember when I met him on that trip to Albany I told him that all the folks at home were gone. He said he knew it--he'd kept himself posted; so I suppose he must have married this woman after that."
But Clifford had grown deathly pale while he was speaking, for his mind had been working rapidly.
"No--no; great heaven;" he exclaimed, "I am sure he must have married her before my mother died!"
"What's that?" exclaimed the squire, and now all on the alert, while a malicious gleam flashed into his eyes.