and I think he had no right to do so. He had
no right to go to her at all."

"Now don't be foolish, Henry."

"I don't see that I am foolish."

"Yes, you are. A man is foolish if he won't take what he wants
without asking exactly how he is to come by it. That your father
should be anxious is the most natural thing in the world. You know
how high he has always held his own head, and how much he thinks
about the characters and the position of clergymen. It is not
surprising that he should dislike the idea of such a marriage."

"Grace Crawley would disgrace no family," said the lover.

"That's all very well for you to say, and I'll take your word that it
is so;--that is as far as the young lady goes herself. And there's
your father almost as much in love with her as you are. I don't know
what you would have?"

"I would be left alone."

"But what harm has been done you? From what you yourself have told
me, I know that Miss Crawley has said the same thing to you that she
has said to your father. You can't but admire her for the feeling."

"I admire her for everything."

"Very well. We don't say anything against that."

"And I don't mean to give her up."

"Very well again. Let us hope that Mr. Crawley will be acquitted, and
then all will be right. Your father never goes back from his promise.
He is always better than his word. You'll find that if Mr. Crawley
is acquitted, or if he escapes in any way, your father will only be
happy of an excuse to make much of the young lady. You should not be
hard on him, Henry. Don't you see that it is his one great desire to
keep you near him. The sight of those odious bills nearly broke his
heart."

"Then why did he threaten me?"

"Henry, you are obstinate."

"I am not obstinate, mother."

"Yes, you are. You remember nothing, and you forget nothing. You
expect everything to be made smooth for you, and will do nothing
towards making things smooth for anybody else. You ought to promise
to give up the sale. If the worst came to the worst, your father
would not let you suffer in pocket for yielding to him so much."

"If the worst comes to the worst, I wish to take nothing from my
father."

"You won't put off the sale, then?"

The son paused a moment before he answered his mother, thinking over
all the circumstances of his position. "I cannot do so as long as I
am subject to my father's threat," he said at last. "What took place
between my father and Miss Crawley can go