'To tell you the truth. I do not know what she has to say to me;
though I can guess.'

'What do you guess?'

'It is something about your sister.'

'You will have to give that up, Tregear.'

'I think not.'

'Yes you will; my father will never stand it.'

'I don't know what there is to stand. I am not noble, nor am I
rich; but I am as good a gentleman as he is.'

'My dear fellow,' said the young lord, 'you know very well what I
think about all that. A fellow is not better to me because he has
got a title, nor yet because he owns half a county. But men have
their ideas and feelings about it. My father is a rich man, and of
course he'll want his daughter to marry a rich man. My father is
noble, and he'll want his daughter to marry a nobleman. You can't
very well marry Mary without his permission, and therefore you had
better let it alone.'

'I haven't even asked his permission as yet.'

'Even my mother was afraid to speak to him about it, and I never
knew her to be afraid to say anything else to him.'