Oh, how was it possible, thus taken unprepared, to know in what direction an answer should be framed, to be certain of anything, except that denial was dangerous and that equal danger attended the disclosure of the truth? The nephew murmured with pale, trembling lips that a man must not be judged too severely for the follies of his youth, that he had been brought up to a wandering life, an unsettled education, but that he was willing to repair any harm that he had done. His uncle caught up the words, almost before he had completed them, with another question that came faster than the first. ‘Oh! ah! Follies. Follies. I’ve not a doubt of it. But folly is a word that may mean an inch or may mean an ell. I have to ask you, sir, and I charge you to tell me honestly, to what extent has your folly, as you call it, gone?’ And then, as no answer came, he proceeded very slowly, with eyes and lips that were fixed and resolute. ‘There’s some folly, sir, that is easily bought and paid for. It can be forgotten, and no harm is done. There is other folly that clings to a man through life, and takes away from him every chance of raising himself. A low match, sir, that’s what can’t ever be got over. I’ve had reason to know for myself that marriage is a serious thing. I should like to ask ye, nephy Gillan, if you’re inclined to tell the truth, if the folly ye speak of has gone as far as that? For if it has, I consider ye a ruined man. I tell ye candidly before ye answer me!’ It was too much. James Gillan sprang suddenly to his feet, with a mind no longer in doubt, nor a manner that was wavering, and poured out his words on each other, fast and faster, as if he were striving to thrust inward shame aside. ‘Why, sir,’ he cried out. ‘I hope you don’t suspect me of binding myself so seriously without any reference to yourself, at the very time when I had come down to this neighbourhood with the intention of knowing you and being close to you! I have only to tell you of some foolish trifling which perhaps went further than I had intended it to do, but for which I am willing to pay any sum that may be demanded in order to satisfy the woman and the girl.... And now, sir, that I have, as I hope, explained myself, I must ask for the decision that you have promised me. These events may, I hope, be explained and cleared away. But what must I do meanwhile? Where shall I go?’ ‘If you ask me the question,’ said Mr Lee, in a low voice and very slowly, ‘I think I shall be able to tell you, sir, where you may go!’