You know wot it means once
_they_ take hold."
Then David set down the untasted wine and told the truth. Not
all--that was not to be dreamed of. In the depths of his heart he
feared Bulmer. The old man's repute for honesty was widespread. He
would fling his dearest friend into prison for such a swindle as that
arranged between Coke and the shipowner. But it was a positive relief
to divulge everything that concerned Iris. From his pocket-book David
produced her frayed letter, and Bulmer read it slowly, aloud, through
eyeglasses held at a long focus.
Now, given certain definite circumstances, an honest man and a rogue
will always view them differently. David had interpreted the girl's
guarded phrases in the light of his villainous compact with Coke.
Dickey, unaware of this disturbing element, was inwardly amazed to
learn that Verity had lied so outrageously with the sole object of
carrying through a commercial enterprise.
"'Tell him I shall marry him when the _Andromeda_ returns to England
from South America,'" he read. And again . . . "'The vessel is due
back at the end of September, I believe, so Mr. Bulmer will not have
long to wait.'"
If, in the first instance, David had not been swept off his feet by the
magnitude of the catastrophe, if he had not commenced the series of
prevarications before the letter reached him, he might have adopted the
only sane course and taken Bulmer fully into his confidence.
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