"Do you justify him in pitching into me like a big brute?" asked
Guy, hastily.

"No; but still, I think it, was natural, under the circumstances.
You should have kept out of his way, and let him alone."

"Won't you punish him for attacking me?" demanded Guy, indignantly.

"I will speak to him on the subject," said Allan Roscoe; "and will
tell him my opinion of his act."

"Then shan't I be revenged upon him?" asked Guy, disappointed.

"Listen, Guy," said his father. "Is it no punishment that the boy is
stripped of all his possessions, while you step into his place?
Henceforth he will be dependent upon me, and later, upon you. He has
been hurled down from his proud place as owner of Castle Roscoe, and
I have taken his place, as you will hereafter do."

"Yes," said Guy, gleefully; "it will be a proud day when I become
master of the estate."

Allan Roscoe was not a specially sensitive man, but this remark of
his son jarred upon him.

"You seem to forget, Guy, that you do not succeed till I am dead!"

"Yes, I suppose so," answered Guy, slowly.

"It almost seems as if you were in a hurry for me to die."