 tone, changing his
position at the same time so as to look his interlocutor in the face.
    Joseph seemed relieved.
    »Still,« he continued, »you've given her to understand - eh? I suppose
there's no secret about that?«
    »I've often spoken to her very intimately, but I have used no words such as
you are thinking of. It's quite true that my way of behaving has meant more than
ordinary friendship.«
    »Yes, yes; you're not offended at me bringing this subject up, old man? You
see, I'm her father, after all, and I think we ought to understand each other.«
    »You are quite right.«
    »Well, now, see.« He fidgeted a little. »Has my father ever told you that
his friend the lawyer, Percival, altogether went against that way of bringing up
Jane?«
    »Yes, I know that.«
    »You do?« Joseph paused before proceeding. »To tell you the truth, I don't
much care about Percival. I had a talk with him, you know, when my business was
being settled. No, I don't quite take to him, so to say. Now, you won't be
offended? The fact of the matter is, he asked some rather queer questions about
you - or, at all events, if they weren't exactly questions, they - they came to
the same thing.«
    Sidney was beginning to glare under his brows. Common-sense told him how
very unlikely it was that a respectable solicitor should compromise himself in
talk with a stranger, and that such a man as J. J. Snowdon; yet, whether the
story were true or not, it meant that Joseph was plotting in some vile way, and
thus confirmed his suspicions. He inquired, briefly and indifferently, what Mr.
Percival's insinuations had been.
    »Well, I told you I don't much care for the fellow. He didn't say as much,
mind, but he seemed to be hinting-like that, as Jane's father, I should do well
to - to keep an eye on you - ha, ha! It came to that, I thought - though, of
course, I may have been mistaken. It shows how little he knows about you and
father. I fancy he'd got it into his head that it was you set father on those
plans about Jane - though why I
