s own widowed relation out of doors,
and sent me, her daughter, among strangers to earn her bread; having
seen my mother sink and die in her struggle to keep her family from
want,--this man now seeks to condone his offences--pardon me, sir, if I
use your own legal phraseology--by offering me a home; by giving me part
of his ill-gotten wealth, the association of his own hypocritical self,
and the company of his shameless, profligate son--

Starbottle (interrupting). A moment, Miss Morris,--a single moment!
The epithets you have used, the--er--vigorous characterization of
our--er--conduct, is--er--within the--er--strict rules of legal
advocacy, correct. We are--er--rascals! we are--er--scoundrels! we
are--er--well, I am not--er--prepared to say that we are not--er--demn
me--hypocrites! But the young man you speak of--our son, whose past
life (speaking as Col. Starbottle) no one more sincerely deprecates than
myself,--that young man has reformed; has been for the past few months
a miracle of sobriety, decorum, and industry; has taken, thanks to
the example of--er--friends, a position of integrity in his father's
business, of filial obedience in his father's household; is, in short, a
paragon; and, demn me, I doubt if he's his father's son.

Miss Mary. Enough, sir! You are waiting for my answer. There is no
reason why it should not be as precise, as brief, and as formal as your
message. Go to my cousin; say that you saw the person he claims as
his relation; say that you found her, a poor schoolmistress, in a rude
mining camp, dependent for her bread on the scant earnings of already
impoverished men, dependent for her honor on the rude chivalry of
outcasts and vagabonds; and say that then and there she repudiated your
kinship, and respectfully declined your invitation.

Starbottle (aside). Ged! Star! this is the--er--female of your species!
This is the woman--the--er--one woman--for whom you are responsible,
sir!--personally responsible!

Miss Mary (coldly). You have my answer, sir.

Col. Starbottle. Permit me--er--single moment,--a single moment!
Between the er--present moment, and that of my departure--there
is an--er--interval of twelve hours. May I, at the close of that
interval--again present myself--without prejudice, for your final
answer?

Miss Mary (indifferently). As you will, sir. I shall be here.

Col. Starbottle. Permit me. (Takes her hand gallantly.) Your conduct
and manner, Miss Morris, remind me--er--