leness. "Shall I ring for a maid? Will you have some sal volatile?"

"No," said Patty, trying hard to check her sobs; "no, I will go away."

"But what's it all about?" said the bewildered old man. "What made you
cry?"

"You did," said Patty, with such suddenness that he nearly fell over.

"I? Bless my soul! What did I do?"

"You were so c-cross," said Patty, weeping afresh at the remembrance of
his cold looks.

"Well, never mind, child, I won't be cross again. Tell me all about it."

Surely Sir Otho was melting! Patty sagaciously believed he was touched by
her tears, so made no desperate effort to stop them.

"I c-can't tell you now. You're not in a k-kind m-mood."

"Yes, I am; try to tell me, my dear child."

Patty thought she had never known any one who could turn from anger to
kindness so suddenly, but she resolved to strike while the iron was hot.

"It's about K-Kitty," she said, still sobbing, but peeping out from
behind her handkerchief to see how he took this broadside.

"I supposed so," he said, with a sigh. "Well, what about her?"

"She's your daughter, you know," went on Patty, growing more daring, as
she slyly watched the old gentleman's expression.

"Is she, indeed? I'd forgotten the fact."

This, though in a sarcastic tone, was better than his usual disavowal of
the relationship.

"And did you stop in here, and treat me to this absurd scene, just to
inform me concerning my family tree?"

"N-no," said Patty, resorting to tears again. "I stopped in, to--to ask
you s-something."

"Well, out with it! Are you afraid of me?"

This nettled Patty.

"No," she said, starting to her feet. Her tears had stopped now, and her
eyes were blazing. "No! I am not afraid of you! I'm sorry I broke down. I
was foolishly nervous. But I'm over it now. I came in here, Sir Otho
Markleham, to ask you to make peace with your daughter, and to propose to
you a pleasant way to do so. But you have been so cross and ugly, so
sarcastic and cruel, that I see the utter hopelessness of trying to
reconcile you two. I was foolish even to think of it! Lady Kitty is
gentle and sweet in many ways, but she has inherited your obstinate,
stubborn----"

"Pigheaded," suggested Sir Otho, politely.

"Yes! Pigheaded disposition, and though, as the older, you ought to make
the advance, you'll never do it--and she never will--and--so----"

Patty broke down again, this time from sheer sadness of heart at the
irrevocable state of th