"I thought she had a right to choose her own company," said Mrs. Bristol with proper humility.
"I have allowed you to live on my land for two years without a penny of rent, woman; and this is the return I get for it," replied the great man, in whose heart the poor woman's ingratitude was beginning to make havoc.
"You have been very kind to us, Major Billcord, and we are very grateful for all you have done for us. I am so sorry that this sad thing has happened!" pleaded Mrs. Bristol.
"And still you try to fasten the blame on my son," retorted the proprietor of Sandy Point and its surroundings.
"I am very sorry he meddled with Lily; if he hadn't done it, there would have been no trouble, for Paul has always treated Mr. Walker with respect."
"At it again!" exclaimed the major. "You will insist that my son was to blame, simply because he was polite enough to invite your daughter to take a row with him in the boat."
"She was not willing to go; and I didn't know that she was obliged to go out on the lake with him. She declined his invitation, and Mr. Walker tried to force her into the boat."
"It was not civil in her to decline the invitation, and I don't wonder that Walker was a little vexed at her refusal. She is a pert minx, marm, and has not been well brought up, or she would have known better than to decline," added the magnate, bestowing a look of severity upon the fair maiden.
Mrs. Bristol and Paul saw that it was useless to attempt to reason with such a man, and they were silent. The major took out his handkerchief, and wiped the perspiration from his face. Then he felt of his nose and the region about his two eyes, between which the son of toil had planted his hard fist. Doubtless there was a soreness in those parts, and perhaps the visual organs of the father would be clothed in sable wreaths by the next day.
"That boy must be punished, severely punished, for what he has done," the major resumed. "He has had the audacity to strike me in the face,—me, the benefactor of the whole family!"