ubject. "You were very
explicit with me the other day, sir."

"I meant to be so."

"And I will be equally so to you now. Both I and your daughter are
absolutely ruined unless you reconsider your purpose."

"If you mean money by reconsideration,--present money to be given to
you,--I certainly shall not reconsider it. You may take my solemn
assurance that I will give you nothing that can be of any service to
you in trade."

"Then, sir,--I must tell you my purpose, and give you my assurance,
which is equally solemn. Under those circumstances I must leave
England, and try my fortune in Central America. There is an opening
for me at Guatemala, though not a very hopeful one."

"Guatemala!"

"Yes;--friends of mine have a connection there. I have not broken it
to Emily yet, but under these circumstances she will have to go."

"You will not take her to Guatemala!"

"Not take my wife, sir? Indeed I shall. Do you suppose that I would
go away and leave my wife a pensioner on your bounty? Do you think
that she would wish to desert her husband? I don't think you know
your daughter."

"I wish you had never known her."

"That is neither here nor there, sir. If I cannot succeed in this
country I must go elsewhere. As I have told you before, L20,000 at
the present moment would enable me to surmount all my difficulties,
and make me a very wealthy man. But unless I can command some such
sum by Christmas everything here must be sacrificed."

"Never in my life did I hear so base a proposition," said Mr.
Wharton.

"Why is it base? I can only tell you the truth."

"So be it. You will find that I mean what I have said."

"So do I, Mr. Wharton."

"As to my daughter, she must, of course, do as she thinks fit."

"She must do as I think fit, Mr. Wharton."

"I will not argue with you. Alas, alas; poor girl!"

"Poor girl, indeed! She is likely to be a poor girl if she is treated
in this way by her father. As I understand that you intend to use, or
to try to use, authority over her, I shall take steps for removing
her at once from your house." And so the interview was ended.

Lopez had thought the matter over, and had determined to "brazen it
out," as he himself called it. Nothing further was, he thought, to be
got by civility and obedience. Now he must use his power. His idea
of going to Guatemala was not an invention of the moment, nor was it
devoid of a certain basis of truth. Such a suggestion had been made
to him some ti