"My DAUGHTER!" cried Bartley, catching sight of Mary.
"Come out, sir," said the Colonel, no longer loudly, but trembling with emotion.
"Come here, Mary," said Bartley, sternly.
At this moment who should open the back door of the office but
William Hope!
"Walter," said the Colonel, with the quiet sternness more formidable than all his bluster, "have not I forbidden you to court this man's daughter?"
Said Bartley to Mary: "Haven't I forbidden you to speak to this ruffian's son?"
Then, being a cad who had lost his temper, he took the girl by the wrist and gave her a rough pull across him that sent her effectually away from Walter. She sank into the Colonel's seat, and burst out crying with shame, pain, and fright.
"Brute!" said the Colonel. But the thing was not to end there. Hope strode in amongst them, with a pale cheek and a lowering brow as black as thunder; his first words were, "Do YOU CALL YOURSELF A FATHER?" Not one of them had ever seen Hope like that, and they all stood amazed, and wondered what would come next.