"Don't interrupt me, please," said Mrs Gabriel, sharply. "Now that you have sown your wild oats, I want you to come here and take your position as my heir. I am no longer so young as I was, and I need someone to help me in administering the estate. Besides, I want you to marry."
Leo rose from his seat. "You wish me to marry," said he; then, after a pause, he proceeded sarcastically, "And I suppose you have chosen me a wife?"
"Just so," said Mrs Gabriel, coolly. "I want you to marry Miss Hale."
"Not if there was not another woman in the world!"
"That's all nonsense, Leo. She has a good dowry and she is an agreeable girl. You shall marry her."
"I don't love her," protested Leo.
"No matter; she loves you. Her brother told me so, and I am woman enough to see that she is deeply attached to you."
"I won't marry her!" said Leo, doggedly. "I have a right to choose a wife for myself, and Miss Hale is not my choice."
"Ah! Then what I have heard is true?"
"What have you heard?" he demanded, with a dangerous look in his blue eyes. Mrs Gabriel was going too far.