as a mule,
but--"

"Are mules pig-headed?" said Dick flippantly.

The squire shook him. "Be quiet, you prig! I won't be dictated to by you.
Look here, Dick!" His voice changed abruptly. "I'm not ordering. I'm
asking. That boy is a mill-stone round your neck. Let him go! He'll be
happy enough. I'll see to that. Give him up like a dear chap! Then you'll
be free--free to chuck this absurd, farcical existence you're leading
now--free to make your own way in the world--free to marry and be happy."
Dick made a slight movement under the hand that held him, but he did not
attempt to speak. The squire went on. "You can't hope for any of those
things under existing conditions. It wouldn't be fair to ask any woman to
share your present life. It would be almost an insult with this infernal
incubus hanging on you. Can't you see my point? Can't you sacrifice your
damned obstinacy? You'd never regret it. You're ruining yourself, Dick.
Chance after chance has gone by, and you've let 'em go. But you can't
afford to go on. You're in your prime now, but let me tell you a man's
prime doesn't last. A time will come when you'll realize it's too late to
make a start, and you'll look back and curse the folly that induced you
to saddle yourself with a burden too heavy for you to bear."

He paused. Dick was looking straight before him with a set, grim face
that gave no indication of what was passing in his mind.

Again, more gently, the squire shook the shoulder under his hand. "I'm
out to make you happy, Dick. Can't you see it? For your mother's sake--as
well as your own. And there's a chance coming your way now--or I'm much
mistaken--which it would be madness to miss. This Miss Moore--she's
dropped from the skies, but she's charming, she's a lady, she's just the
woman for you. What, Dick? Think so yourself, do you? No, it's all right,
I'm not prying. But this is a chance you'll never get again. And you
can't ask her, you can't have the face to ask her, as long as you keep
that half-witted creature dangling after you. It wouldn't be right, man,
even if she'd have you. Look the thing in the face, and you'll be the
first to say so! It would be a hopeless handicap to any marriage--an
insurmountable obstacle to happiness, hers as well as yours. Don't tell
me you can't see it! You know it. You know you've no right to ask any
woman to share a burden of that kind with you. It would be manifestly
unfair--iniquitous. There! I've done. I've never spok