place?"

"They are quite sufficient to satisfy me," replied the young man.

"You have others to consider," said Lord Earle, quickly.

"I love her," interrupted his son; and again his father smiled.

"We know what it means," he said, "when boys of nineteen talk
about love. Believe me, Ronald, if I were to consent to your
request, you would be the first in after years to reproach me for
weak compliance with your youthful folly."

"You would not call it folly," retorted Ronald, his face flushing
hotly, "if Dora were an heiress, or the daughter of some--"

"Spare me a long discourse," again interrupted Lord Earle. "You
are quite right; if the young girl in question belonged to your
own station, or even if she were near it, that would be quite a
different matter. I am not annoyed that you have, as you think,
fallen in love, or that you wish to marry, although you are
young. I am annoyed that you should dream of wishing to marry a
simple rustic, the daughter of my lodge keeper. It is so
supremely ridiculous that I can hardly treat the matter
seriously."

"It is serious enough for me," returned his son with a long, deep
sigh. "If I do not marry Dora Thorne, I shall never marry at
all."