lly loved
me. I have kept my bed almost ever since I got your cruel letter."
Bed and cruel were again strenuously underscored. "It has made papa
very unhappy, and, though he has said nothing to myself, he has told
mamma that if I am really in earnest he will do something for us."
The letter was long, but this is all the reader need see of it. But
it must be explained that the young lady had greatly exaggerated her
mother's words, and that her mother had exaggerated those which Sir
Thomas had spoken. "She is a stupid idiot," Sir Thomas had said to
his wife. "If she is obedient, and does her duty, of course I shall
do something for her some day." This had been stretched to that
promise of concession which Gertrude communicated to her lover.

This was the assistance which Frank Houston received in making up
his mind on Saturday night. If what the girl said was true, there
was still open to him the manner of life which he had prepared for
himself; and he did believe the announcement to be true. Though Sir
Thomas had been so persistent in his refusals, his experience in life
had taught him to believe that a parent's sternness is never a match
for a daughter's obstinacy. Had there been a touch of tenderness in
his heart to the young lady herself he would not have abandoned her
so easily. But he had found his consolation when giving up his hope
of Sir Thomas's money. Now, should he again take to the girl, and
find his consolation in accepting the money? Should he resolve upon
doing so, this would materially affect any communication which he
might make to Imogene on the following day.

While thus in doubt he went into the smoking-room and there he found
any thinking to be out of the question. A great question was being
debated as to club law. One man had made an assertion. He had
declared that another man had been seen playing cards in a third
man's company. A fourth man had, thereupon, put his hat on his head,
and had declared contumaciously that the "assertion was not true."
Having so declared he had contumaciously stalked out of the room,
and had banged the door after him,--very contumaciously indeed.
The question was whether the contumacious gentleman had misbehaved
himself in accordance with the rules of the club, and, if so, what
should be done to him. Not true is as bad as "false." "False,"
applied to a gentleman in a club, must be matter either of an apology
or expulsion. The objectionable word had, no doubt, been sai