'You must never do that, sir. You must not leave Folking. But as for myself,—I have ideas about my own life.'
'Are they such that you can tell them?'
'Yes;—you shall hear them all. But I shall expect you to help me;—or at least not turn against me?'
'Turn against you, John! I hope I may never have to do that again. What is that you mean?' This he said very seriously. There was usually in his voice something of a tone of banter,—a subdued cynicism,—which had caused everybody near him to be afraid of him, and which even yet was habitual to him. But now that was all gone. Was there to be any new source of trouble betwixt him and his son?
'I intend to ask Hester Bolton to be my wife,' said John Caldigate.
The father, who was standing in the library, slapped both his hands down upon the table. 'Hester Bolton!'
'Is there any objection?'
'What do you know about her? Why;—she's a child.'
'She is nearly twenty, sir.'
'Have you ever seen her?'