utors have discharged a piece
of business which is distinctly germane to the matter?'

'Perhaps.'

'Does your mother know?'

'I have just told her.'

'Very well, then it seems to me that there's nothing more to be said.'

'Do you refuse to see Mr Milvain?'

'Most decidedly I do. You will have the goodness to inform him that that
is my reply to his letter.'

'I don't think that is the behaviour of a gentleman,' said Marian, her
eyes beginning to gleam with resentment.

'I am obliged to you for your instruction.'

'Will you tell me, father, in plain words, why you dislike Mr Milvain?'

'I am not inclined to repeat what I have already fruitlessly told you.
For the sake of a clear understanding, however, I will let you know the
practical result of my dislike. From the day of your marriage with that
man you are nothing to me. I shall distinctly forbid you to enter my
house. You make your choice, and go your own way. I shall hope never to
see your face again.'

Their eyes met, and the look of each seemed to fascinate the other.

'If you have made up your mind to that,' said Marian in a shaking
voice, 'I can remain here no longer. Such words are senselessly cruel.
To-morrow I shall leave the house.'

'I repeat that you are of age, and perfectly independent. It can be
nothing to me how soon you go. You have given proof that I am of less
than no account to you, and doubtless the sooner we cease to afflict
each other the better.'

It seemed as if the effect of these conflicts with her father were to
develop in Marian a vehemence of temper which at length matched that
of which Yule was the victim. Her face, outlined to express a gentle
gravity, was now haughtily passionate; nostrils and lips thrilled with
wrath, and her eyes were magnificent in their dark fieriness.

'You shall not need to tell me that again,' she answered, and
immediately left him.

She went into the sitting-room, where Mrs Yule was awaiting the result
of the interview.

'Mother,' she said, with stern gentleness, 'this house can no longer be
a home for me. I shall go away to-morrow, and live in lodgings until the
time of my marriage.'

Mrs Yule uttered a cry of pain, and started up.

'Oh, don't do that, Marian! What has he said to you? Come and talk to
me, darling--tell me what he's said--don't look like that!'

She clung to the girl despairingly, terrified by a transformation she
would have thought impossible.

'He says that if I marr