"I ain't denyin' you suffered--but there 's others to consider; others have suffered, too, I guess, in a way _you_ don't know nothin' about, bein' a woman." "What do you mean, Cale?" I asked, trying to make him speak Mr. Ewart's name. "Mean? Marcia Farrell, you know what I mean. Ain't you got a woman's heart beatin' somewhere in your bosom?" "Oh, Cale, don't!" "I 've got to, Marcia; you 've got to see things different, or you 'll rue the day you ever blinded yourself to facts." "Is Mr. Ewart ill?" "Ill?" There was a curious twitch to his mouth as he repeated that word. "Wal, it depends on what you call 'ill'. That's a pretty mild word for some sorts of diseases--" "Oh, Cale, tell me quick--don't keep me waiting any longer--" "Any longer for what?" "You know, Cale, I want to hear of him--know about him--" "Oh, you do, do you? Wal, it 's pretty late in the day for you to show some feelin'. Look here, Marcia, I ain't goin' to meddle. I meddled once thirty years ago when I tried to persuade your mother she loved George Jackson, an' I 've lived to curse the day I did it. I ain't goin' to fall inter the same trap _this_ time, you bet yer life on thet; but I 'm goin' to speak my mind 'fore I leave you here. Will you answer me one plain question, an' answer it straight?" "I 'll try to." "_Do_ you think different from what you did? Have you come to see things any different from what you put 'em to me?" "Yes." "Wal, thet's to the point; now we can talk. The Doctor and Ewart was talkin' this over 'fore I come away; I heard every word. I was right there, and they asked me to be. Gordon Ewart told the Doctor that when he fust see him aboard ship, that was nineteen years ago, he made his acquaintance because he knew he was the man who had brought you inter this world. He never let him go. He kept in touch with him. He come to be his closest friend. An' he never told that he, Gordon Ewart, is the one that puts that money regularly into the Doctor's hands, without his knowin' who it comes from, for the sake of helpin' others--" "But he did not think of me." I could not help it; I spoke bitterly. "No. He did n't want to think of you. He wanted to ferget there was anybody or anything in this world to remind him of what he 'd suffered from Happy Morey; an' he tried his best. An' he told the Doctor that when he 'd thought he 'd conquered, when he come to see things different too, he come back to settle in the old manor an' carry out his ideas. An' the very fust night, he found you there. He said he knew then, he couldn't get away from his past; it was livin' right there along with him. "Marcia, I ain't meddlin', and mebbe I 'm to blame; but when I told you what I did, I done for the best as I thought. The Doctor done for the best as he thought. He believed you were Ewart's daughter, and he see what we all could n't help seein'--" "What, Cale?" I longed to hear from Cale's lips that he had seen Mr. Ewart's love for me.