‘There—the boy speaks rightly,’ said Sebastian. ‘My words were perhaps over hasty; but the larger fact of our quarrel remains—that you have induced my daughter to leave her home with you, instead of honestly asking her hand from me.’ ‘I knew, as you have indeed just told me, that that would be wasted breath; ’twas the only thing left me to do; now Carrie hath spoilt it all, and I suppose she means to return with you,’ said Phil, his anger redoubled. ‘I presume that to be her intention,’ said Sebastian, turning to Carrie as he spoke. ‘Sir, dearest sir, I must do as you command me now,’ said Carrie. ‘But’—and here she laid her hand in Phil’s—‘some day I must go with Phil, for he hath all my heart.’ ‘When you are old enough to take your own will against mine?’ asked Sebastian. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘When that day comes, you choose betwixt him and me.’ ‘If so be I must make the choice,’ said Carrie, ‘I must choose Phil; I cannot, cannot forsake him.’ There fell a short silence, then Philip spoke. ‘You must admit, sir,’ he said, ‘’tis hard that Carrie and I should be parted by reason of your and my father’s old quarrels. But I, in my turn, must admit I did wrong to make her leave home with me as I did—for that I must ask your forgiveness, but, as I live, sir, I swear you’d have done the same at my age!’ It was scarcely possible for Phil to harp very long on the serious string; inevitably his buoyant nature resented the restraint it was under, and broke through it. Frustrated, disappointed, angry, on the eve of being parted from Carrie, he must still find something to laugh at. And Sebastian, in spite of himself, very much in spite of himself, found it impossible not to laugh also. ‘’Pon my soul! the boy does not lack assurance! Yes, that I would!’ he said, but added a moment later, ‘I laugh, but that doth not retract my displeasure one whit, nor alter a word of what I have said: Carrie shall never marry you an I can prevent it.’ ‘How long must I wait ere you consider Carrie of an age to choose for herself?’ asked Phil. ‘Two years, at the earliest. You will then be of an age to judge for yourself, though young enough to marry, in all conscience.’ ‘And during these two years how much may I see of Carrie?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘I may write to her at times?’ ‘No, never; you forget, Mr. Meadowes, that my object is that you should forget one another so speedily as may be.’ Philip bowed, accepting the inevitable. ‘If that be all, there remains nothing but that I should say my farewells,’ said he. ‘Nothing; the sooner and the shorter they are the better,’ said Sebastian. He looked at the two young people before him. Carrie stood scared and silent by the window. Phil crossed over to where she stood and gathered her up in his arms, kissing her long and fondly. ‘If it must be.—Good-bye, sweetheart, I shall never forget,’ he said. And Carrie, as she raised her lips to his, smiled an almost happy smile.