The soldier seemed amused despite the gravity of the occasion; the elder man’s face was as stubborn as ever.
“I doubt very much whether you can prove anything.”
A flicker of a smile passed over the master of Saltire’s face.
“One of your chief witnesses has confessed to me,” he said.
Now it was only by subtle sword-play that such a man as John Strong could be delicately baffled. Maltravers, who now had his temper admirably under control, had adapted himself to the situation with the adroitness of an athlete. He was not fool enough to indulge in sword and buckler work, or to suffer himself to be bullied by an old plutocrat who had both the will and the means to make matters vastly uncomfortable for a gentleman of fashion. It was matador’s work this, to dangle the red rag of a woman’s honor before this bovine and stolid being, and to reserve the steel to consummate his own safety.
Thus Maltravers had the wit to see that he might turn the situation to his own credit by performing sundry subtle gyrations about the truth. He might victimize John Strong by making a victim of the very woman who trusted him. No very noble strategy this! But, then, who would be the wiser if the trick succeeded, and if John Strong recoiled from sacrificing a woman? Maltravers’ easy sophistry was capable of anæsthetizing his own none too vivid conscience.
“Believe me, Mr. Strong,” he began; “let me be frank with you. As an English gentleman, I should be sorry to see a woman’s honor dragged in the mire.”
“Don’t preach to me, sir, on honor,” quoth John Strong; “what about my son’s honor?”
“Your son, sir, was perhaps more fool than knave.”
“It seems to me, Mr. Strong,” said the soldier, with admirable magnanimity, “that we are both waxing hot over a matter which has passed beyond our control. Let us talk more calmly. What has been done has been done, and we are all of us human. You are aware, of course, that no legal readjustment can be made.”
“Then I am to understand that your chief desire is to drag me down into the mud.”
“My dear sir, you are mistaken. Your vengeance would not fall upon me, nor should I be the one to suffer.”
“I make no insinuations, sir. I repeat the suggestion that you only would sacrifice a woman.”