nd obstinacy which she had
only seen once or twice in her life before.

As he stood there he seemed to stiffen into resistance. His eyelids
drooped, and little lines showed themselves suddenly at either side of
his thin mouth. His father saw it too, for the hand that he had lifted
entreatingly sank again, and his voice was tremulous as he spoke.

"Ralph--Ralph, my son!" he said.

Still the man said nothing; but stood frozen, his face half-turned to
the windows.

"Ralph, my son," said the other again, "you know why we have come."

"You have come to hinder my business."

His voice was thin and metallic, as rigid as steel.

"We have come to hinder a great sin against God," said Sir James.

Ralph opened his eyes wide with a sort of fury, and thrust his chin out.

"She should pack a thousand times more now than before," he said.

The father's face too deepened into strength now, and he drew himself
up.

"Do you know what you are doing?" he said.

"I do, sir."

There was an extraordinary insolence in his voice, and Mary took a step
forward.

"Oh! Ralph," she said, "at least do it like a gentleman!"

Ralph turned on her sharply, and the obstinacy vanished in anger.

"I will not be pushed like this," he snarled. "What right is it of yours
to come between me and my work?"

Sir James made a quick imperious gesture, and his air of entreaty fell
from him like a cloak.

"Sit down, sir," he said, and his voice rang strongly. "We have a right
in Margaret's affairs. We will say what we wish."

Mary glanced at him: she had never seen her father like this before as
he stood in three quarter profile, rigid with decision. When she looked
at Ralph again, his face had tightened once more into obstinacy. He
answered Sir James with a kind of silky deference.

"Of course, I will sit down, sir, and you shall say what you will."

He went across the room and drew out a couple of chairs before the cold
hearth where the white ashes and logs of last night's fire still rested.
Sir James sat down with his back to the window so that Mary could not
see his face, and Ralph stood by the other chair a moment, facing her.

"Sit down, Mary," he said. "Wait, I will have candles."

He stepped back to the door and called to the portress, and then
returned, and seated himself deliberately, setting his cane in the
corner beside him.

None of the three spoke again until the nun had come in with a couple of
candles that she set in the s