"Quite true, dear Mr. Denison," said Ella, hiding her quivering lip.
"I was told not to ask any questions, and I won't, although I may have some opinions of my own in the matter, which may or may not be near the truth. However, we will let that pass. I have been anxious to see you ever since I heard the news from Plackett; wishful, too, to see the old roof-tree once again--for I am as much a Denison as my cousin was. But there were two or three interesting sales coming off in London, and I waited for them.----And you are glad to see me, are you!"
"I am indeed. Can you doubt it?"
"Well no, I can't, for your tone and your face tell it me as well as your words. And now, my dear, what I am come to say to-day is this: Heron Dyke must continue to be your home in time to come as it has been in time gone by. However much I may esteem the old place, I should not care to live here: I am too old to change my roof-tree. As regards the revenues, we can come to some arrangement about them after a time. You have behaved so nobly in this matter that I will see you do not suffer, and you may safely leave your interests in my hands. All I wish is that things should go on here as they have gone on hitherto. You shall continue to be mistress of Heron Dyke."
Ella shook her head.
"It cannot be, dear Mr. Denison," she answered through her tears.
"And why can it not be, I should like to know, if I say that it shall be?"
The peremptory tone was her uncle's over again, but with a quaint geniality in it which his had lacked. Ella did not answer at first. Her face was rosy red.
"I am going to be married," she said in a low tone. "So it is not fit that I should continue to be the mistress here: my husband would be the master. And I fear he would not care that his wife should be dependent on anyone's bounty--not even on yours, dear Mr. Denison."
A pained look came into Mr. Denison's face.