"I came partly out of hard necessity, partly because I hoped that after all the years you would have forgiven me. But there is no use in my staying, I see. I am sorry to have troubled you, sir."
"Say out what you have got to say, man. I don't know whether you know that I have an heir in your place? You have buried yourself so that you may well not know."
"I am glad you have a son, sir."
The old lord grunted.
"Your business, man, your business. I can't wait on you all night, and in five minutes the dinner-bell will ring."
"My business is very simple. I have three girls. One of them would marry after my own heart and hers; but poverty stands in the way. I was brought up as your heir. I thought perhaps that, remembering that fact, you would help my girl."
"You mean by giving her a dowry?"
"You are very rich."
"The time was, Archibald, when I would have given ten years of life to have heard you ask this and to have refused you. I refuse you now, but it is because everything is for the boy. I am old, and even my appetite for revenge has deserted me."
"You owe me no revenge, sir."