"You have doubtless noticed," Colonel Holliday went on, "the frequency of Sir William Brownlow's visits here?"
"Yes, sir, I have noticed that, but I do not often see him. I keep out of his way, for in truth I like him not, nor that son of his, who, on the strength of his three years' seniority, looks down upon me, and gives himself as many airs as madam my mother's peacock."
"And you have never even thought why he comes here so frequently?"
"No, sir," Rupert said, surprised; "it was no business of mine, and I gave no single thought to it."
"He is a suitor for your lady mother's hand," Colonel Holliday said, gravely.
"What!" almost shouted Rupert; "What, sir! He, with his sneering face, dares to think--"
"My dear boy, he not only dares to think, but madam approves of the thought, and has promised him her hand."
Rupert stood motionless.
"It shall not be," he burst out. "We must stop it, sir. Why do not you?"
"I have no shadow of authority over Mistress Holliday," the old colonel said. "As far as I could go, for your sake I have gone--farther, perhaps, than was wise. It has been a great blow for me, Rupert. I had hoped that in the time to come you would be master of the Chace, and of all the broad acres I owned when young; now it will never be. This house and the home farm are mine, and will be yours, lad; but the outlying land will never come back to the Chace again, but will go to swell the Haugh estate on the other side. My lady can leave it as she likes. I have begged her to have it settled upon you, but she has declined. She may have another family, and, infatuated as she is with her suitor, she is more likely to leave it to them than to you, especially as I fear that you will not take kindly to the new arrangement."