I just ran my eye down it. Why?"
"Whoever dug it up has made a mistake. He has jumped to the
conclusion that I'm Uncle Robert's son. Why not let it go at
that?"
His cousin looked up with a flash of eager hope. "You mean--"
"I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. Let it go the
way they have it."
The lawyer's heart leaped, but he could not let this go without a
protest. "No, I--I couldn't do that. It's awfully good of you,
Jeff."
The managing editor smiled in his whimsical way. "My reputation
has long been in tatters. A little more can't hurt it."
James conceded a reflective assent with a manner of impartiality.
"Of course your friends wouldn't think any the less of you.
They're not so--so--"
"respectable as yours," Jeff finished for him.
"I was going to say so hidebound."
"All the same, isn't it?"
"But it would be a sacrifice for you. I recognize that. And I'm
not sure that I could accept it. I will have to think that over,"
the lawyer concluded magnanimously.
"You'll find it is best. But I think I would tell Miss Frome, even
if I didn't tell anybody else. She has a right to know."
"You may depend upon me to do whatever is best about that.
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