ould be drawn signed by one of the trustees and Mr. Knight.
This proviso made the latter even more indignant than before,
especially as it was accompanied by an intimation that the trustees
would require his son's consent, either by letter or in a personal
interview, to any arrangements as to his career, etc., which involved
expenditure of the trust moneys. When a somewhat rude and lengthy
letter to them to that effect was met with a curt acknowledgment of its
receipt and a reference to their previous decision, Mr. Knight's
annoyance hardened into a permanent grievance against his son, whom he
seemed to hold responsible for what he called an "affront" to himself.

He was a man with large ideas of paternal rights, of which an example
may be given that was not without its effect upon the vital interests
of others.

When Isobel returned from London, after the fancy-dress ball, at which
she thought she had seen a ghost whilst sitting in the square with her
young admirer who was dressed as a knight, she waited for a long while
expecting to receive a letter from Godfrey. As none came, although she
knew from Mrs. Parsons that he had written home several times, she
began to wonder as to the cause of his silence. Then an idea occurred
to her.

Supposing that what she had seen was no fancy of her mind, but Godfrey
himself, who in some mysterious fashion had found his way into that
square, perhaps in the hope of seeing her at the ball in order to say
goodbye? This was possible, since she had ascertained from some casual
remark by his father that he did not leave London until the following
morning.

If this had happened, if he had seen her "playing the fool," as she
expressed it to herself with that good-looking man in the square, what
would he have thought of her? She never paused to remember that he had
no right to think anything. Somehow from childhood she acknowledged in
her heart that he had every right, though when she said this to
herself, she did not in the least understand all that the admission
conveyed. Although she bullied and maltreated him at times, yet to
herself she always confessed him to be her lord and master. He was the
one male creature for whom she cared in the whole world, indeed,
putting her mother out of the question, she cared for no other man or
woman, and would never learn to do so.

For hers was a singular and very rare instance of almost undivided
affection centred on a single object. So far