“Oh! that’s your candid opinion, is it? Then all I have to say further this evening, is to thank you for this visit, and to remind you that we must meet again shortly, if you have no objection.”
“Most readily, sir,” replied Mr Falcon, who took his departure with an air of assurance, which left an impression on the merchant’s mind that the colonial financier was a highly objectionable character, who was not a fit companion, much less adviser, for his nephew—and certainly not for Squire Dove’s rich and lovely daughter.
CHAPTER IV
AN APPEAL
Mr Falcon’s stirring details of the storm and of the loss of Henry Goodall, left no room for doubt in his brother’s mind that he had perished; and as the financier, with more haste than discretion, had visited the Doves and had met with a reception which was warmer than the merchant was prepared to hear of, it became advisable that he should send for his nephew to beg of him to forego the allurements of ballooning and submit himself forthwith to Miss Dove’s fascinations, which had proved captivating even to the colonial man of figures. However, Mr Goodall did not at present propose to tell his nephew of his father’s death.
The situation, judging from Mr Falcon’s disclosures as to his admiration of Miss Dove, was hourly becoming more critical, so that, on the arrival of the amateur aeronaut, his uncle, with ill-disguised earnestness, said,—
“Glad to see you, Harry, especially as urgent affairs almost demand a meeting between us. Now tell me what you have been doing? I hear that you have been pottering about at the Crystal Palace with your balloons, and associating with all sorts of people, instead of being in the city with me, or visiting the Doves, whose acquaintance you seem reluctant to make. I am informed that your poor father—”
“Surely nothing serious has happened to him, uncle?”
“I am not saying that, Harry, but I can tell you that your father has met with an accident, and that he was very anxious about you before he left Sydney. He has sent on a Mr Falcon to see us, and I am expecting Captain Link’s return shortly, when I shall hear more precise news. Now, why not go down at once to Wedwell Hall, in compliance with your father’s wish and my own? I am amazed at your shortsightedness and lack of curiosity in not wishing to see and know a wealthy and excellent young lady, endowed with many good qualities, and who will become the owner some day of a magnificent property, which you absolutely turn up your nose at.”
“Are you referring to Miss Dove, uncle?”
“You know I am; and if you fail to win her, someone else will. Some vulgar millionaire will carry her off while you are messing about in the clouds. I’ve no patience with you!”