“You can’t frighten me on that tack,” answered Gaston firmly. “No dollar mark has yet been placed on the doors of Southern society. Manhood, character and achievement are the keys that unlock it. You know that, and I now it. I was poorer and more obscure the day you first invited me here than to-day. And yet you gave me as hearty a welcome as her richest suitor. All I ask is time to prove to you in my life my manhood and worth,—one year, two years, five years, ten years, any time you see fit to name.”
“No, sir,” firmly snapped the General, “not a day. I don’t like long engagements. Yours is ended, once and for all time. I have settled that.”
“Can even a father decide the destiny of two immortal souls off hand like that?”
“Now, you are assuming too much. I am not speaking for myself alone. I have laid all the facts carefully before Sallie, and she has agreed to the wisdom of my decision, and asked me to represent her in what I say this evening.”
Gaston turned pale, his lips quivered, and turning to the General suddenly, he said, “That is the only important fact you have laid before me. Just let her come here, stand by your side and say that with her own lips, and I will never cross your path in life again.”
The General hung his head and stammered, “No, it is not necessary. It will embarrass and humiliate her. I will not permit it.”
“Then I deny your credentials!” exclaimed Gaston.
The General seemed embarrassed by the failure of this fatherly subterfuge, and Gaston could not help smiling at the revelation of his weakness. He decided to press his advantage and try to see her if only for a moment.
“General,” protested Gaston persuasively, “I appeal to your sense of courtesy, even to an enemy. After all that has passed between us in this house, is it fair or courteous to show me that door without one word of farewell to the woman to whom I have given my life? Or is it wise from your point of view?”
Again the General hesitated. He was a big-hearted man of generous impulses, and he felt worsted in this interview somehow, but it was hard to deny such a request. He fumbled at his watch chain, arose, and said, “I will see if she desires it.”