lle and me alike.' But he would n't let me go on.

"'Young man,' said he, in another wrathful outburst, 'I certainly
admire your cheek--advising me--in my own house, too--as to my
treatment of my own family!'

"For a second or two I returned his infuriated look; and then, resolved
not to stand there bandying words nor to be led into a quarrel with
him, I said:

"'I 'm sorry, Mr. Fluette--more than I can express--that you feel
towards me as you do. Nobody could be more ignorant than I am
concerning the nature of your feud with Felix Page--unless it is that
you are visiting upon me the consequences of his opposition to you in
the Board of Trade.'

"He spurned this supposition with a scornful gesture. So I continued:

"'I am glad to know it is not that; I could n't conceive of you doing
anything so outrageously unjust. Could anything be more unfair,' I
asked him, 'than to make me share all the animosities that Felix Page
has engendered? Why, he is scarcely better than a stranger to me; my
profound ignorance of his affairs is the best testimony that I can
offer in my behalf.'"

He paused a moment and tried to drive the distressed look from Miss
Belle's face with a cheering smile. He failed to do so, however, and
immediately proceeded with his recital.

"Well, I failed utterly to move him; but you will be more than merely
interested in what presently followed. Said he:

"'Admitting all that you say, you have brought forward nothing that is
to the point; the one over-shadowing, unalterable fact remains that you
_are_ Felix Page's nephew. Prove the contrary to be true--satisfy me
that you are free of that detestable blood taint--and you remove the
last of my objections to you as a son-in-law.'

"He fell to pacing the floor again, and then presently he stopped and
eyed me with a curious expression; I knew that he was turning something
over in his mind. When he spoke, his words surprised and puzzled me
not a little.

"'If you are so bent upon having Belle,' he said, there 's just one way
you may go about getting her.'

"Considering what he had already said, it is no wonder that I did n't
know what to say to this. I waited, and his next words betrayed the
real cause--at least, I took it to be the real cause--of his bitterness
and ill will. There was a sneer in every word.

"'Bring me the Paternoster ruby,' he said, 'and if, in the meantime,
she has n't acquired some of the intelligence with which I have