"She did not set me on, father," insisted the other, earnestly. "I came
here of my own will. I have been dwelling within a stone's-throw of your
house these six months, in hopes to see you face to face. She told me
_not_ to come--I swear she did."

"So much the better for her," ejaculated the Squire, grimly. "If I
thought that she had any hand in this, not another shilling of my money
should she ever touch. It was agreed between us," he continued,
passionately--"and I, for my part, am a man who keeps his word--that she
and hers should never meddle more with me and mine; and now she has
broken faith."

"Nay, Sir, but she has not," returned the young man, firmly. "I tell you
it was against her will that I came hither."

"The devil it was!" exclaimed the Squire, suddenly bursting into a wild
laugh. "If you get your way with _her_, when she says 'no,' you must be
a rare one. You are my son for certain, however, or you would never dare
to stand here. It was a rash step, young Sir, and might have ended in
the horse-pond. I had half a mind to set my bull-dog at you. Since you
_are_ here, however, you can stay. But let us understand one another. I
am your father, in a sense, as I am father, for aught I know, to half
the parish; but as to being lawfully so, the law has happened to have
decided otherwise. I know what you would say about 'the rights of it;'
but that's beside the question; the law, I say, for once, is on my side,
and I stand by it. Egad, I have good reason to do so; and if your mother
had been _your_ wife, as she was mine, you would be with me so far. Now,
look you," and here again the speaker's manner changed with his shifting
mood, "if ever again you venture to address me as your father, or to