"I don't see what that has to do with our conversation," replied Mallow, growing red and restless.
"It has everything to do with the matter. I want to marry Maraquito, as I am rich and deeply in love with her. She would have become my wife long ago but that you crossed her path. Lord knows why she should love a commonplace man like you, but she does."
"Isn't that rather personal?" said Mallow dryly.
"I beg your pardon. But what I wish to say is this. If you marry Miss Saxon and place yourself beyond Maraquito's reach, I will be able to induce her to marry me. Our interests are bound up together. Now, to do this you must have Mrs. Octagon's consent. I can get it."
"In what way?"
"She loves Basil, her son, more than she does herself," went on Hale, paying no attention to the remark. "To save him she would do much."
"To save him from what?"
"Basil;" continued the lawyer, still not noticing the interruption, "is a young fool. He thought himself sure of Miss Loach's money—and he was until a week before she died. Then he came to Rose Cottage and insulted her—"
"I have heard that. She ordered him out of the house."
"She did. Miss Loach was a bitter, acrid old woman when the fit took her. However, Basil insulted her so grossly that she made a new will and left all the money to Miss Saxon. Now it happens that Basil, to supply himself with funds, when his aunt refused to aid his extravagance further, forged her name to a bill—What's the matter?"