"Walk out bag and baggage, you mean?"
"Something of that sort. I don't mind giving you one hundred pounds with which to make a new start in life. If I were you, I would go to Australia with Kit when he marries Sophy Tollart."
"And what about Dorinda?"
"She is not for you," said Mallien resolutely. "As the daughter of the Squire of Barship, she must marry a man with a position."
"Does Dorinda say so?" inquired Rupert quietly.
"Dorinda," said the affectionate parent, "is as obstinate as a pig. She is coming here in a few minutes to argue the matter. I told her that I intended to settle the matter of the will to-day. But she shan't marry you with my consent, and, as I have the money, you can see that it would be wrong of you to drag her down to poverty."
"You put the case very plainly, Mallien."
"How else do you expect me to put it?" said the other, who was not in the least ashamed of the cowardly way in which he was behaving.
"You might have a little more consideration for my position," remarked Rupert, with a shrug.
"What consideration did you ever show to me?" snarled Mallien.