ction in the way of its accomplishment.'

'But, Willy, it seems to me that, of us two, it is you who exercise
paternal authority?'

'True, it is for your good. Let me do it.'

'Well, one must be indulgent under the circumstances, I suppose....
But,' added De Stancy simply, 'Willy, I--don't want to marry, you know.
I have lately thought that some day we may be able to live together,
you and I: go off to America or New Zealand, where we are not known, and
there lead a quiet, pastoral life, defying social rules and troublesome
observances.'

'I can't hear of it, captain,' replied Dare reprovingly. 'I am what
events have made me, and having fixed my mind upon getting you settled
in life by this marriage, I have put things in train for it at an
immense trouble to myself. If you had thought over it o' nights as much
as I have, you would not say nay.'

'But I ought to have married your mother if anybody. And as I have not
married her, the least I can do in respect to her is to marry no other
woman.'

'You have some sort of duty to me, have you not, Captain De Stancy?'

'Yes, Willy, I admit that I have,' the elder replied reflectively. 'And
I don't think I have failed in it thus far?'

'This will be the crowning proof. Paternal affection, family pride, the
noble instincts to reinstate yourself in the castle of your ancestors,
all demand the step. And when you have seen the lady! She has the figure
and motions of a sylph, the face of an angel, the eye of love itself.
What a sight she is crossing the lawn on a sunny afternoon, or gliding
airily along the corridors of the old place the De Stancys knew so well!
Her lips are the softest, reddest, most distracting things you ever saw.
Her hair is as soft as silk, and of the rarest, tenderest brown.'

The captain moved uneasily. 'Don't take the trouble to say more, Willy,'
he observed. 'You know how I am. My cursed susceptibility to these
matters has already wasted years of my life, and I don't want to make
myself a fool about her too.'

'You must see her.'

'No, don't let me see her,' De Stancy expostulated. 'If she is only half
so good-looking as you say, she will drag me at her heels like a
blind Samson. You are a mere youth as yet, but I may tell you that the
misfortune of never having been my own master where a beautiful face
was concerned obliges me to be cautious if I would preserve my peace of
mind.'

'Well, to my mind, Captain De Stancy, your objections seem tr