you straight from the shoulder. You're not going to marry that girl. She
shan't steal you and spoil you. I've told you so before. I give it to
you now before witnesses."

The girl ran toward him. She was furious. It was evident that shame as
well as anger possessed her.

"Have I ever said I wanted to marry your grandson? Has he ever said he
wanted to marry me? Is it because you have such a wicked old mind that
you think we cannot always be the true friends we have been? I do not
want a husband. But I have a friend, and you shall not take him away
from me!"

"You have heard, sir. Do you realize how you have insulted both of us?
You shall apologize, Grandfather Thornton!"

For reply the old man walked up to him, snapped the fingers of both
hands under his nose, and walked away. "Give me ten words more of that
talk and I'll take you across my knee," he called over his shoulder.
"There are some men that never grow old enough to get beyond the
spanking age."

Presson, interested spectator, looked for the natural outburst of youth
at that point. But he stared at the young man, and decided that he truly
had inherited the Thornton grit and self-restraint which the Duke seemed
now to have lost all at once after all the years.

Harlan gazed after his grandfather, lips tightening. He was an
embodiment of wholesome young manhood, as he stood there, struggling
with the passion that prompted him to unfilial reproaches. Then he