echapel boy. Are we downhearted? No. But I ain't going, old
pal, and that's a fact."

He almost fell into an arm-chair and looked upon them with that bland
air of patronage which intoxication inspires. Anna, very pale and
frightened, was upon the point of summoning the servants; but Alban,
wiser in his turn, forbade her to do so.

"You go to bed, Anna," he said quietly, "Captain Forrest and I will have
a talk. I'm sure he doesn't expect you to sit up. Eh, Forrest, don't you
think that Anna had better go?"

"By all means, old chap. Nothing like bed--I'm going myself in a minute
or two. Don't you sit up, Anna. Anywhere's good enough for me. I'll
sleep in the greenhouse--eh, what? Your gardener'll find a new specimen
in the morning and get fits. Mind he don't prune me, though. I can't
afford to lose much at my time of life. You go to bed, Anna, and dream
of little Willy. He's going to make your fortune on Thursday--good old
Lodestar, some of 'em'll feel the draught, you bet. Don't spoil your
complexion on my account, Anna. You go to bed and keep young."

He rambled on, half good-humoredly, wholly determined in his resolution
to stay. Anna had never found him obstinate or in opposition to her will
before, and blazing cheeks and flashing eyes expressed her resentment at
an attitude so changed.

"Alban," she said quietly, "Captain Forrest will not stay. Will you
please see that he does not."

She withdrew upon the words and left the two men alone. They listened
and heard her mounting the stairs with slow steps. While Forrest was
still disposed to treat the matter as a joke, Alban had enough
discretion to avoid a scene if it could be avoided. He was quite calm
and willing to forget the insult that had been offered to him.

"Why not make an end of it, Forrest?" he said presently. "I'll go to the
hotel with you--you know perfectly well that you can get a bed there.
What's the good of playing the fool?"

"I was never more serious in my life, old man. Here I am and here I
stay. There's no place like home--eh, what? Why should you do stunts
about it? What's it to do with you after all? Suppose you think you're
master here. Then give us a whisky-and-soda for luck, my boy."

"I shall not give you a whisky-and-soda and I do not consider myself the
master here. That has nothing to do with it. You know that Anna wishes
you to go, and go you shall. What's to be gained by being obstinate."

Forrest looked at him cunningly.

"