old, and since this union, which
appears to cause you such uneasiness, cannot be consummated for some
time yet, I beg that you will not distress your sister nor yourself by
further threats."

"I will drop the subject when you both agree to cancel this foolish
engagement. Give me your word of honor that you will never claim the
fulfillment of Violet's rash promise to you, and I will drop the matter
and be glad to do so."

"I cannot promise you that," Wallace firmly replied, though he had grown
very pale as he realized how determined they were to separate them. "I
love your sister, and if she is of the same mind in the future, when I
can feel justified in claiming her, I shall certainly make her my wife."

"And you know me well enough, Belle, to be sure that I shall not
change--that I shall not retract one word that I have said to-night,"
Violet added, with no less firmness than her lover had manifested.

"I know that you are a rash and obstinate girl, but you will find that I
can be just as relentless as yourself, and you will make me the promise
I demand or this house can no longer be your home," Mrs. Mencke sternly
retorted.

"I shall never make it," Violet reiterated, with white lips, while she
looked up into her lover's face with such an expression of affection and
trust that he longed to take her to his heart and bear her away at once
from such unnatural guardianship.

CHAPTER VIII.

"I'LL BREAK HER WILL!"

Mr. Mencke here interposed. When his wife's temper was aroused she was
liable to be rash and unreasonable. He thought if they could but get rid
of Wallace they could perhaps coax Violet into a more pliable frame of
mind.

He turned to the young man, and said, sternly:

"We have had enough of this for to-night, but I will confer with you
later about this matter."

Wallace bowed a courteous, but dignified, assent to this broad hint to
take his departure.

He bade Violet good-night in a low tone, tenderly pressing her hand
before releasing it, then, after a polite bow to Mrs. Mencke, which she
did not deign to notice, he walked with a firm, manly bearing from the
house, bidding its master a gentlemanly good-evening at the door.

In spite of her rage against Violet and her poverty-stricken lover, Mrs.
Mencke could not help admiring the latter's self-possessed exit, while
she secretly confessed that "the fellow was uncommonly good-looking."

When the door had closed after him, she turned agai