What could one say? Obviously he should not have _made_ such a suggestion, but, as obviously, I could not forbid him. It seemed fair to assume that she would not incriminate herself with a total stranger or try to blackmail us through him... And he had an assurance of manner which led me to hope that he would not stand any nonsense from her... "Try--by all means," I said. And it was on the tip of my tongue to beg him not to consider us; we could await his pleasure before thinking about dinner. But one had to be civil to the man for this one night. He was gone for nearly half an hour. Will and I waited and waited... At last he came back and said: "I must apologize for keeping you so long. It was a complicated story." Then he looked at Will. "I should like a word with you afterwards." The agony of that dinner is a thing which I shall never forget. Sir Appleton sat in dead silence for half the meal, then roused himself to talk about red lacquer. That was his nearest approach to China, business... And, when we were alone, he turned to Will and said: "How much does your mother know about it?" "About what?," Will asked, naturally enough. "Now don't try that kind of thing on me, young man!," cried Sir Appleton in a quite unpardonable tone. And then, _for the first time_, I heard the facts about this girl's unhappy condition. Will, apparently, knew, but she had not told her father or Arthur or anybody but Sir Appleton. And how much of it was true... "You are accepting this girl's tale?," I asked. "I believe her." "Without a shadow of evidence? If Will _assured_ you--" "I shouldn't believe him," he interrupted. To Will's mother, in her own house, at her own table! I could see that this was going to be war to the knife... And then I'm afraid I threw all restraint to the winds. After urging Will to be careful, too. What I said... The words poured out of me in a torrent until my boy stared at me with round eyes. Sir Appleton just sat nodding like a mandarin. I told him how this girl had set her trap to catch Will, how she had evidently resolved to stop at _nothing_ for the chance of marrying above her station, how she had persecuted and blackmailed us. Whatever she had got, I said, she richly deserved. Not that I believed her story! Oh, not for a single moment! As soon as she had _forced_ Will to marry her, she would laugh in his face for the trick she had played him. And, if all this was true--her condition and so forth and so on--, what possible proof was there that Will was in any way responsible? "Ask him," said Sir Appleton. "How should _I_ know?," said Will. "Exactly," Sir Appleton cried in triumph. "Now, young man, what do you propose to do?" "I don't know," said Will. "Then suppose you find out," said Sir Appleton. "Are you going to marry her?" "No, no!," I cried. "A thousand times, no! She must reap what she has sown. My son shall not pay the price of her wickedness."