e you. Tell your son everything, as you have told
me.'

'Never, never! I would die first.'

'You do not know what you are saying,' he returned soothingly. 'Do you
think a son is likely to judge his own mother harshly? If I can find it
in my heart to pity you, will your own flesh and blood be more hard than
a stranger?'

'Oh, you do not know Cyril!' she replied with a shudder. 'He is so
perfectly truthful. I have heard him say once that nothing can justify a
deception. In spite of his goodness, he can be hard--very hard. When
Kester was a little boy, he once, told a lie to shield Mollie, and Cyril
would not speak to him for days.'

'I do not say that he will not be shocked at first, and that you may not
have to bear his displeasure. But it will be better--a hundred times
better--for him to hear it from your own lips.'

'He will never hear it,' she returned; and now she was weeping wildly.
'The story will never be told by me. How could I bear to hear him tell
me that I had ruined him--that his prospects were blasted? Oh, have
mercy upon a miserable woman, Captain Burnett! For the sake of my
boy--for Kester's and Mollie's sake--help me to send Mat away!'

He made no answer, only looked at her with the same steady gentleness.
That look, so calm, yet so inexorable, left her no vestige of hope. A
rock would have yielded sooner than Michael Burnett, and she knew it.

'I was wrong to trust you,' she sobbed. 'You are a hard man--I always
knew that; you will stand by and see us all ruined, and my boy breaking
his heart with shame and misery, and you will not stretch out your hand
to save us.'

But he let this pass. Her very despair was making her reckless of her
words.

'Mrs. Blake,' he said quietly, 'will you tell your son that he has a
father living?'

'No; I will not tell him!'

Then Michael got up from his chair as though the interview were at an
end. His movement seemed to alarm Mrs. Blake excessively.

'You are not going? Do you mean that you are actually leaving me in this
misery? Captain Burnett, I would not have believed you could be so
cruel!'

'There is no use in my staying. I cannot convince you that your best
hope for the future is to throw yourself on your son's generosity. I
regret that you will not listen to me--you are giving me a very painful
task.'

Then she started up and caught him by the arm.

'Do you mean that you will tell him?'

'I suppose so--somebody must do it; but I would rather