“Don’t--don’t! It is impossible!” groaned the baronet. “If she will not grant me one reasonable request, with the full knowledge that she will lose me, it is proof positive that her love is a mere chimera, a passing fancy, undefinable and worthless! No, colonel, all is at an end, and I shall leave Annesley Park to-night. My affairs shall be put into the hands of my men of business in London, and I pray to God that I may never set foot in the place again! My heart is broken! I have one request to make of you, old friend, and that is to correct any wrong impressions that get abroad. Spare Lady Elaine all that may be annoying, and if any one has to bear the blame, let it be me. We part now, probably never to meet again, and I wish you to take my farewell to my cousin, Margaret Nugent.” The colonel jumped to his feet, tears in his eyes. He held out his hand, replying huskily: “I will do all that you ask of me, you foolish fellow, and probably a great deal more. I hope to see you again, though,” he added, energetically. “I will see you again! You must excuse my haste; I have several important matters needing my attention. Good-by!” He scarcely gave Sir Harold time to reply, but dashed out of the room into the hall, seized his hat and commanded a servant to see that a horse was saddled for him at once. In a few minutes the animal was brought to the door, and the colonel galloped at a mad pace toward Ashbourne, the seat of the Earl of Seabright. “The boy is full of cranky, quixotic notions,” he thought, “and my lady is too high-spirited and proud to pander to all his follies. As a consequence, he would ruin two lives. The county cannot afford it. What does she care for that dandyfied ass of a Rivington? Not one iota! I consider that the girl has acted very properly. Does he want to shut her out of the world entirely? By Jove, I feel that I could give him a piece of my mind!” When he arrived at Seabright Hall, his horse dripping with foam, the first person he encountered in the vestibule was Viscount Rivington, who regarded him in wonderment. “One of Annesley’s horses,” he observed. “Why, colonel, one would think that you were the bearer of important dispatches! You must be living over again the days when you were a military aide-de-camp on active service.” “Where is the earl?” demanded the colonel, brusquely. Then he added fiercely, his gray eyes flashing under his bristling brows: “See here, Rivington, you are causing trouble between two young people who love each other dearly. If you are a gentleman, you must stop it. D’ye hear?” “No man ever dared say that I am not a gentleman!” retorted the viscount, flushing hotly. “Then prove that you are worthy of the name,” the colonel said, “or I may have to stigmatize you as a blackguard! We men of the old school are still ready to back our words at the sword’s point!”