ill not forget
mine to you. I'll not be angry, but quite cool. Now, sir," he cried,
with his face looking congested and his heavy grey brows drawn down over
his glowing eyes, while his voice sounded hoarse and strange. "Aleck,
tell me at once. I'll have an answer before you leave this room. Why
did you engage in that disgraceful fight?"

"I can't tell you, uncle," said the boy, in a hoarse whisper.

"Ha! That means, sir, that you are obstinately determined not to
speak?"

"It isn't obstinacy, uncle."

"Don't contradict me, sir. I say it is obstinacy. Now, once more, for
the last time, will you answer my question?"

Aleck drew in a long, low, hissing breath and stood fast for a few
moments, before saying, in a low tone, his voice quivering the while:

"I can't tell you, uncle."

There was a dead silence in the room for a few moments then; so dead was
the silence, in fact, that if the proverbial pin had dropped it would
have sounded loudly on the polished oaken boards.

Then the old man spoke, in a curiously suppressed tone of voice.

"Very well," he said, huskily; "it is what was bound to come sooner or
later. I see I have made another of the mistakes which have blasted my
existence. I must have time to think out what I shall do. One thing is
very evident--you have rebelled against my rule, Aleck, and are
struggling to get away to think and act, sir, for yourself. I have done
my best for you, but in my isolation I have doubtless been blind and
narrow. It is the natural result of our solitary life here--the young
spirit seeking to soar."

"Oh, no, uncle--" began the boy.

"Silence, sir!" thundered the old man. "Hear me out. I say it is so,
and I know. You resent my holding the tether longer, but you are too
young yet to fly unheld. I have my duty to do for your mother's sake
and for yours. I must have time to think out my plans, but in the
meantime prepare yourself to go to some school or institution for a year
or two before entering upon your profession."

"But, uncle!"

"That will do, sir," said the old man, sternly. "You have struck your
blow against my authority, and this painful episode in my life must
end."

"If you'd only let me speak, uncle!" cried the boy, passionately.

"I begged of you to speak, sir," said the old man, coldly. "I ordered
you to speak; but in each case you refused. Well, now then, tell me
simply--I ask again on principle--why did you fight those boys?"