certain bargain as the price of his surrender? Probably he would
not suffer if he did. The flotation was underwritten and bound to go
through; the scandal would come afterwards, months or years hence, long
before which he might get out, as most of the others meant to do. No, he
could not. His conscience was too much for him.

"I do not see any use in reconsidering that question, Mr. Haswell," he
said quietly; "we settled it on Friday night."

Barbara reopened her brown eyes and stared amiably at the painted
ceiling, and Mr. Haswell whistled.

"Then I am afraid," he said, "that I do not see any use in discussing
your kind proposal for my niece's hand. Listen--I will be quite open
with you. I have other views for Barbara, and as it happens I have the
power to enforce them, or at any rate to prevent their frustration by
you. If Barbara marries against my will before she is five and twenty,
that is within the next two years, her entire fortune, with the
exception of a pittance, goes elsewhere. This I am sure is a fact that
will influence you, who have nothing and even if it did not, I presume
that you are scarcely so selfish as to wish to beggar her."

"No," answered Alan, "you need not fear that, for it would be wrong. I
understand that you absolutely refuse to sanction my suit on the ground
of my poverty, which under the circumstances is perhaps not wonderful.
Well, the only thing to do is to wait for two years, a long time, but
not endless, and meanwhile I can try to better my position."

"Do what you will, Alan," said Mr. Haswell harshly, for now all his
_faux bonhomme_ manner had gone, leaving him revealed in his true