'That was fortunate,' said Dick, 'but you did, father. You thought that Josephs was a gentleman, and you say that Angus is not. Perhaps you have made a mistake in both cases.'
'I say nothing against Angus,' replied the colonel, 'except that I don't want him to marry my daughter.'
'Oh, you and he got on well together, then?'
'He can talk. The man has improved.'
'You did not talk about Mary?' asked Dick.
'We never mentioned her; how could I, when he supposes her engaged to Dowton? I shall talk about him to her, though.'
Two days afterwards Dick asked his father if he had talked to Mary about Angus yet.
'No, Richard,' the old man admitted feebly, 'I have not. The fact is that she is looking so proud and stately just now, that I feel nervous about broaching the subject.'
'That is exactly how I feel,' said Dick, 'but Nell told me to-day that, despite her hauteur before us, Mary is wearing her heart away.'
The colonel's fingers beat restlessly on the mantelpiece.