I told you, you don't understand
me. Try to! I'm not a bad lot. I've great abilities. I'm a hard worker.
Eldrick & Pascoe could tell you that I'm scrupulously honest in money
matters. You'll see that I'll look after your mother's affairs in a
fashion that'll commend itself to any firm of auditors and accountants
who may look into my accounts every year. I'm only taking the salary
from her that I was to have had for the stewardship. So--why not leave
it at that? Let things be! Perhaps--in time you'll come to see that--I'm
to be trusted."
"How can I trust a man who deliberately tells me that he holds a secret
and a document over a woman's head?" demanded Nesta. "You've admitted a
previous hold on my mother. You say you're in possession of a secret
that would ruin her--quite apart from recent events. Is that honest?"
"It was none of my seeking," retorted Pratt. "I gained the knowledge by
accident."
"You're giving yourself away," said Nesta. "Or you've some mental twist
or defect which prevents you from seeing things straight. It's not how
you got your knowledge, but the use you're making of it that's the
important thing! You're using it to force my mother to----"
"Excuse me!" interrupted Pratt with a queer smile. "It's you who don't
see things straight. I'm using my knowledge to protect--all of you. Let
your mind go back to what was said at first--to what I said at first.
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