extremely doubtful whether her father--much as he liked her lover--would
consider him suitable as a son-in-law. For her mother's opinion she felt
no anxiety; since Sarah Dale was thoroughly under her husband's thumb.
Penny's own strong will had come to her from her father alone.

The course of events was much like that of other instances of the kind.
Clandestine letters, less frequent meetings--as opportunity offered--ran
the usual risk; in due time, as might have been expected by any but
ardent lovers, the secret oozed out. Some busybody or other lost no time
in conveying the startling news to Stephen Dale, who had hitherto had no
suspicion of the state of things.

To say that Penny's father was disappointed would be an altogether
inadequate description of his state of mind; he was thoroughly enraged.
Never in her life had his daughter seen him give way to such unrestrained
passion; for never before had his hopes and aspirations been so entirely
thrown over. He had set his heart upon establishing his darling in a
position in life as far above his own as might be possible; now, by her
own initiative, she had paved the way to an evident descent in the social
scale. Not content with choosing one far beneath her, she had even
chosen a Protestant! Yet Stephen had too strong a will to be easily
contravened. He was determined to prevent, at all costs, such a
disaster. His first impulse was to relieve his mind by telling Spence in
no measured language what he thought of his conduct; the latter had
perforce to keep silent, however exaggerated the abuse heaped upon him,
for his conscience told him that he was in fault. Penny was the next to
listen to some very candid truths as to the uprightness of her part in
the proceedings. Then when he had given full play to his indignation,
Stephen began to make plans for the future which might effectually defeat
any attempts on the part of the young people to renew their intimacy.