He was miserable enough, but in this great trouble he
would not separate himself from Tifto. 'I don't believe a word of
all that,' he said to Mr Lupton.
'It ought to be investigated at any rate.'
'Mr Pook may do as he likes, but I will have nothing to do with
it.'
Then Tifto came to him swaggering. Tifto had to go through a
considerable amount of acting, for which he was not very well
adapted. The Captain would have done it better. He would have
endeavoured to put himself altogether into the same boat with his
partner, and would have imagined neither suspicion or enmity on
his partner's part till suspicion or enmity had been shown. But
Tifto, who had not expected that the matter should be allowed to
pass over without some inquiry, began by assuming that
Silverbridge would think of evil of him. Tifto, who at this moment
would have given all that he had in the world not to have done the
deed, who now hated the instigator of the deed, and felt something
almost akin to love for Silverbridge, found himself to be forced
by circumstances to defend himself by swaggering.
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