the bell, ordered some brandy and soda, and continued:

'Now, I've got some pride in the old place, too, father: I don't want
to see Jinny send Kingscourt spinning the moment you die. Well, this
is what I propose. I'm no good. I'm played out. I've had my turn.
Well, now, if you'll clear off my debts this time, and start me free
with 5000 pounds--giving it in trust to somebody--so that I can have my
200 pounds or 250 pounds a year--then I'll consent to quash the entail;
you bring home Frank, and give him Kingscourt. That's better than
being a sailor, and he'll look after the old place.'

The old man regarded him calmly, but also with a strange, wistful, sad
look.

'I had thought of it. But is there no other way, Alfred?'

'No. I'm broke. I'm done. If you want to save Kingscourt, that's the
only way.'

'And you?'

'I've had my turn; I can't complain. Sooner or later Jinny'll bolt.
Then I'll go to the States and try my hand at something.'

'Do you know they've just made Frank commander?'

'He'll be glad to leave the navy, all the same. Fellows can't marry
while they're in the navy.'

'What are your debts now, Alfred?'

Here the brandy and soda was brought in, which gave him time to think.

'I don't know exactly. Two brutes have got hold of me. I should fancy
they could all be choked off with 8000 pounds--say 9000 pounds.'

'14,000 pounds--it will be a heavy charge on the estate.'

'But I shall be off it. What's more, father, if Frank comes home, and
gets married, and plays the good boy and all that kind of thing, don't
let him get it into his head that I am jealous of him, or that he has
supplanted me. Frank is a fine chap. Tell him it was my proposal; and
I hope he'll be a better son to you than I have been. Well, is it a
bargain, father?'

The old man thought for some time, and at length said,

'Yes.'

'Well, then, there's another thing. Jinny's stumbled against something
and got a black eye. Let's get her out of the house without the
servants seeing her--this evening, after dusk. And I'll meet you any
day you like at Shaen and Maskell's.'

This, then, was how it came about that Commander Francis Holford King,
R.N., was summoned home from the West Indies, where he had been with
his ship, the _Hellespont_. He was grave for his years; and he was
more manly in figure, somehow, and certainly browner of face, than when
we last saw him at Bellagio, on Lake Como; but as he sailed past t