ur happiness in this marriage. Only your happiness.
Why will you not consent to it?"

I thought the battle was over, and that Dorothy was the victor. She
thought so, too, but was not great enough to bear her triumph silently.
She kept on talking and carried her attack too far.

"And I refuse to obey because of my happiness. I refuse because I hate
Lord Stanley, and because, as you already know, I love another man."

When she spoke the words "because I love another man," the cold, defiant
expression of her face changed to one of ecstasy.

"I will have you to the dungeon this very hour, you brazen huzzy," cried
Sir George.

"How often, father, shall I repeat that I am ready to go to the dungeon? I
am eager to obey you in all things save one."

"You shall have your wish," returned Sir George. "Would that you had died
ere you had disgraced your house with a low-bred dog whose name you are
ashamed to utter."

"Father, there has been no disgrace," Dorothy answered, and her words bore
the ring of truth.

"You have been meeting the fellow at secluded spots in the forest--how
frequently you have met him God only knows--and you lied to me when you
were discovered at Bowling Green Gate."

"I would do it again gladly if I but had the chance," answered the girl,
who by that time was reckless of consequences.

"But the chance you shall not have," retorted Sir George.

"Do not be too sure, father," replied Dorothy. She was unable to resist
the temptation to mystify him. "I may see him before another hour. I will
lay you this wager, father, if I do not within one hour see the man--the
man whom I love--I will marry Lord Stanley. If I see him within that time
you shall permit me to marry him. I have seen him two score times since
the day you surprised me at the gate."

That was a dangerous admission for the girl to make, and she soon
regretted it with all her heart. Truly she was right. An angry brain is
full of blunders.

Of course Dorothy's words, which were so full of meaning to Madge and me,
meant little to Sir George. He looked upon them only as irritating
insolence on her part. A few minutes later, however, they became full of
significance.

Sir George seemed to have forgotten the Stanley marriage and the burning
of the contract in his quarrel with Dorothy over her unknown lover.

Conceive, if you can, the situation in Haddon Hall at that time. There was
love-drunk Dorothy, proud of the skill which had enabled her