s Randolph," interrupted Newton,
restraining her with one hand. "I assure you that I have no intention of
injuring the boy."

"Injuring me, indeed!" I cried, springing to my feet, furious with rage,
for I could not bear to be patronized. "It is you who are insulting, and
by God you shall answer for it!"

"As you will," he said, with a light laugh, and turned back to the fire.

I knew that I had got all the worst of the encounter, that I had behaved
with a rudeness for which there was no excuse, and that I cut a sorry
figure standing there, and my face burned at the knowledge. But
preserving what semblance of dignity I could, I stalked from the hall and
upstairs to my room. I sat a long time thinking over the occurrence, and
the more I pondered it, the more clearly I saw that I had played the
fool. I did not know then, but I learned long afterward, that my conduct
that night came near losing me the great happiness of my life. My cheeks
flush even now as I think of my behavior. How foolish do the tragedies of
youth appear, once time has tamed the blood!

I did not wonder in the morning to receive a summons from my aunt, and I
found her in her accustomed chair before the table piled with papers. She
glanced at me coldly as I entered, and finished looking over a paper she
held in her hand before she spoke to me.

"I need not tell you," she said at length, "how greatly your boorish
conduct of last night surprised me. To insult a guest, and especially to
do so without provocation, is not the part of a gentleman."

I flushed angrily, for the justness of this statement only irritated me
the more. I think it is always the man who is in the wrong that shows the
greatest violence, and the man that most deserves rebuke who is most
impatient of it.

"There is no need for you to counsel me how a gentleman should behave,"
I answered hotly.

"I did not summon you here to counsel you," she said still more coldly,
"but to inform you that this disgraceful affair is to go no further, at
least beneath this roof. Mr. Newton has promised me to overlook your
behavior, which is most generous on his part, and I trust you will see
the wisdom of making peace with him."

"And why, may I ask, madame?"

"Because," she said, looking me in the eyes, "it is most likely that he
will marry my daughter, and nothing is more vulgar than a family whose
members are forever quarreling."

I clenched my hands until the nails pierced the flesh. She ha