ho are not vindictive: they are never grateful either, only
incapable of any enduring sentiment. And Douglas! Sholto Douglas! The
hero, the Newdigate poet, the handsome man! What a noble fellow he is
when a little disappointment rubs his varnish off! I am glad I called
him a coward to his face. I am thoroughly well satisfied with myself
altogether: at last I have come out of a scene without having forgotten
the right thing to say. You never see people in all their selfishness
until they pretend to love you. See what you owe to your loving suitor,
Sholto Douglas! See what you owe to your loving father, Reginald Lind!"

"I do not think that my father should have told me to leave the room,"
said Marian. "It was Sholto's place to have gone, not mine."

"Mr. Lind, who has so suddenly and deservedly descended from 'papa' to
'my father,' judiciously sided with the stronger and richer party."

"Nelly: I shall be as unhappy after this as even Sholto can desire. I
feel very angry with papa; and yet I have no right to be. I suppose it
is because I am in the wrong. I deceived him about the engagement."

"Bosh! You didnt tell him because you knew you couldnt trust him; and
now you see how right you were."

"Even so, Nelly, I must not forget all his past care of me."

"What care has he ever taken of you? He was very little better
acquainted with you than he was with me, when you came to keep house for
him and make yourself useful. Of course, he had to pay for your board
and lodging and education. The police would not have allowed him to
leave you to the parish. Besides, he was proud of having a nice, pretty
daughter to dispose of. You were quite welcome to be happy so long as
you did not do anything except what he approved of. But the moment you
claim your independence as a grown woman, the moment you attempt to
dispose of yourself instead of letting him dispose of you! Bah! _I_
might have been _my_ father's pet, if I had been a nonentity. As it was,
he spared no pains to make me miserable; and as I was only a helpless
little devil of a girl, he succeeded to his heart's content. Uncle
Reginald will try to do exactly the same to-morrow, he will come and
bully you, instead of apologizing as he ought. See if he doesnt!"

"If I had as much reason to complain of my childhood as you have,
perhaps I should not feel so shocked and disappointed by his turning on
me to-night. Surely, when he saw me attacked as I was, he ought to have
com