I will
bring down ruin upon the place. I have sued gently and tenderly, but it
is useless. Now I will show you that I am master; promise me now that
you will speak to him no more, or--"

I never knew what threat Garcia would have uttered for just then running
forward I dashed out my clenched fist with all my might, and with a
crash the Don went down over a chair just as my uncle and Mrs Landell
ran into the room.

"What does this mean?" exclaimed my uncle angrily, as Lilla ran,
sobbing, to her mother.

"He struck me!" cried Garcia furiously, as he scrambled up. "He has
insulted me--a hidalgo of Spain--and I'll have his blood!"

"Better go and wash your face clear of your own," I said contemptuously,
as I suffered from an intense longing to go and kick him. "He was rude
to my cousin, Uncle, and I knocked him down. That's all."

With a savage scowl upon his face Garcia made for the door, turned to
shake his fist at me, and he was gone.

"Hal," said my uncle gently--"Hal, my boy, I'd have given a year of my
life sooner than this should have happened. You don't know these
half-blood Spaniards as I do. You don't know _what_ mischief may befall
us all through your rashness."

"I wonder that you admit him to your house, Uncle!" I exclaimed hotly,
for anger was getting the better of discretion.

I was sorry, though, the next minute; for, on hearing my words, my uncle
glanced in a troubled way at his wife, who was trying to soothe poor
weeping Lilla; while, during the next hour, I learned that I had had the
misfortune to strike down the man who was my uncle's creditor to a large
amount, as he had been Mrs Landell's, or they would not have allowed
his attentions to Lilla.

"I'm ashamed of it all, my boy," said my uncle; "but he holds our future
entirely in his hands, and he looks for the receipt of Lilla's little
dowry as part payment of the debts. I've struggled very hard against
ruin, Hal, and now it seems that it must come. But after all, I don't
know that I'm sorry, for it would have been a cruel thing--like selling
that poor child. But when a man is embarrassed as I am, what can he do?
And besides, we both thought at one time that Lilla had a leaning
towards him. It was when he seemed to come forward generously with his
money, which I was foolish enough to take. But there, let it pass; and
I repeat, mind, Hal, that I cannot allow matters to go on between you
and Lilla. All will be at an end with Gar