“Add lie to lie, I suppose; and, according to your method of moral arithmetic, make two wrongs into one right. So, you want to drag me into it?”
“Father, if you have any natural feeling toward Dick—I don’t ask you to think of me—you’ll set this matter straight by satisfying the bank people.”
“The bank people don’t want to be satisfied. They’ve paid me my money—there’s an end to it. You must appeal to Ormsby.” 244
“But Ormsby hates Dick. He is marrying the woman Dick loves.”
“And who is that, pray?” cried the old man, starting up and snapping his words out like pistol shots.
“Why, Dora Dundas, of course.”
“Who’s she?”
“The only daughter of Colonel Dundas, a wealthy man. His wealth, I suppose, attracted Ormsby. He will show Dick no mercy. You’ve met Colonel Dundas. You ought to remember him.”
“Oh! the fool who writes to the papers about the war. I know him. What’s the girl like? Is she as great an idiot as her father?”
“You’ve seen her. I brought her here with me one afternoon to see the gardens, and she came up and had tea with you. Don’t you remember—about two years ago?”