lly theatrical heavy father, of noble
family, and you have Lord Talgarth to the life. There really are people
like this in the world--of whom, too, one can prophesy, with tolerable
certainty, how they will behave in any given situation.

Certainly, Lord Talgarth was behaving in character now. He had received
meek Mr. Mackintosh's deferential telegram, occupying several sheets,
informing him that his son had held an auction of all his belongings,
and had proposed to take to the roads; asking, also, for instructions as
to how to deal with him. And the hint of defiant obstinacy on the part
of Frank--the fact, indeed, that he had taken his father at his
word--had thrown that father into a yet more violent fit of passion.
Jenny had heard him spluttering and exclamatory with anger as she came
into the hall (the telegram had but that instant been put into his
hands), and even now the footmen, still a little pale, were exchanging
winks in the hall outside; while Clarkson, his valet, and the butler
stood in high and subdued conference a little way off.

What Lord Talgarth would really have wished was that Frank should have
written to him a submissive--even though a disobedient--letter, telling
him that he could not forego his convictions, and preparing to assume
the _role_ of a Christian martyr. For he could have sneered at this, and
after suitable discipline forgiven its writer more or less. Of course,
he had never intended for one instant that his threats should really be
carried out; but the situation--to one of Lord Talgarth's
temperament--demanded that the threats should be made, and that Frank
should pretend to be crushed by them. That the boy should have behaved
like this brought a reality of passion into the affair--disconcerting
and infuriating--as if an actor should find his enemy on the stage was
armed with a real sword. There was but one possibility left--which Lord
Talgarth instinctively rather than consciously grasped at--namely, that
an increased fury on his part should once more bring realities back
again to a melodramatic level, and leave himself, as father, master both
of the situation and of his most disconcerting son. Frank had behaved
like this in minor matters once or twice before, and Lord Talgarth had
always come off victor. After all, he commanded all the accessories.

* * * * *

When the speeches had been made--Frank cut off with a shilling, driven
to the Colonies, brou