entleman and a man
of honour--"

He cut her short.

"Is she going to see me, or isn't she?"

"She is not. She's very much distressed, and every reason to be, God
knows; and she's not going to see you to-night."

Raymond took it quietly and his restraint instantly alarmed Mrs.
Dinnett.

"It's not my fault, Mr. Ironsyde. But seeing how things are between you,
she was cruel put about this afternoon, and she's got to think of
herself if you can do things like that at such a moment."

"She must try and keep her nerve better. There was no reason why I
should break promises. She ought to have waited for me to come to her."

Mary Dinnett flamed again.

"You can say that! And didn't she wait all the morning to see if you'd
come to her--and me? And as to promises--it don't trouble you to break
promises, else you'd have seen your family yesterday, as you told Sabina
you were going to do."

"Is she going to the mill to-morrow?" he asked, ignoring the attack.

"No, she ain't going to the mill. It isn't a right and fitting thing
that the woman you're going to marry and the mother of your future child
should be working in a spinning mill; and if you don't know it, others
do."

"She told you then--against my wishes?"

"And what are your wishes alongside of your acts? You're behaving very
wickedly, Mr. Ironsyde, and driving my daughter frantic; and if she
can't tell her mother her sorrows, who should know?"

"She has disobeyed me and done a wrong thing," he said quietly. "This
may alter the whole situation, and you can tell her so."

"For God's sake don't talk like that. Would you ruin the pair of us?"

"What am I to do if I can't trust her?" he asked, and then went abruptly
away before Mary could answer.

She was terribly frightened and soon drowned in tears, for when she
returned to Sabina and related the conversation, her daughter became
passionate and blamed her with a shower of bitter words.

"I only told you, because I thought you had sense enough to keep your
mouth shut about it," she cried. "Now he'll think it's common news and
hate me--hate me for telling. You've ruined me--that's what you've
done, and I may as well go and make a hole in the water as not, for
he'll never marry me now."

"You told Miss Ironsyde," sobbed the mother.

"That was different. She'll keep it to herself, and I had to tell her to
show how serious it was for me. For anything less than that, she'd have
taken his side against me. An