"I've liked you ever since," he said. "Look here, Jake! I'm
not tempting you to do anything wrong now. I'm asking you to do something
that doesn't appeal to you; but if you do it, it'll be one of the most
decent actions of your life. That child is quite alone just now--except
for me. Will you take her--like a good chap--till something else safe
turns up?"
Jake sat slowly forward. "I'll have to talk it over with Maud," he said.
Saltash's grip shifted impatiently. "You know very well what Maud will
say. Don't be an ass about it! Say No--if you mean to say No--at once!"
There came the quiet tread of approaching feet on the gravelled terrace
and the sound of low voices talking together. Jake lifted his head. His
face was grim. He looked Saltash straight in the eyes.
"You've told me the plain truth about her. You swear it?"
Saltash's swarthy countenance was in shadow, but those strange eyes of
his gleamed oddly, with the sort of fitful shining that comes from a coat
of mail in an uncertain light. They did not flinch from Jake's straight
regard, neither did they wholly meet it.
"Is my oath really more valuable than my word, Jake?" he said, with a wry
twist of the lips. "Most people don't find it so.
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