"My father was a man of headstrong prejudices," said the Squire. "If he
once took a notion into his head, it was impossible to knock it out of
him. To dislike a person, and to hate them, were with him the same
thing. Such were the feelings he entertained towards your father, whom
he regarded as having been his bitterest enemy. The idea of a son of his
uniting himself to a daughter of Captain Wildegrave seemed to impugn his
own loyalty. It was with him a personal insult, an unforgivable offence.
Algernon has accused me of fomenting my father's displeasure, for the
base purpose of robbing him of his share of the property. You have been
told this?"

"I have."

"And you believe it?"

"I did believe it; but it was before I knew you."

"Dismiss such an unworthy idea of me from your breast for ever. I did
all in my power to restore Algernon to my father's favor. I earnestly
entreated him, when upon his death-bed, to make a more equitable will.
On this point the old man was inflexible. He died muttering curses on
his head."

Elinor shuddered.

"It was my determination to have rendered Algernon justice, and shared
the property equally between us; but in this Algernon prevented me. He
left the Hall in a tempest of rage; and when I made the proposal
through my mother, my offer was rejected with scorn. I wrote to him
before he left for India on the same subject, and my letters were