"You don't really mean it," she went on disregarding, "you know you don't. Jack has been about the place ever since we came here twelve years ago, and he was a nice little boy in a short jacket--" "_Will_ you be quiet?" "No, I won't. If nobody else is here to speak, I shall tell you what I think of it. There is nobody so near you as Jack. As to all this business, you know very well that it is no one's fault but Phillis's, she said so herself in her letters, and I do say it is a shame that the poor boy should suffer--" Mr Thornton was in a red heat of passion. Jack said abruptly. "No, that is not the case. Whatever blame there is--and I suppose there always is blame, first or last, in a broken engagement--rests entirely with me. It will be very unjust, Uncle Peter, if you visit my sins on poor Phillis. I tell you honestly that I liked the thought of Hetherton at first, I dare say I should like it still; but it was a mistake of yours, I think, though no doubt you meant it kindly, to mix up the two things together, and it makes it uncommonly hard upon one of the two, don't you see? Set it right with Phillis, and I shall take my disinheriting without grumbling." Phillis was Mr Thornton's favourite as Jack was his wife's, and this speech of Jack's smoothed him down a little. But he shook his head obstinately. "Whatever I may be, I'm not a weather-cock. I made up my mind deliberately, and I'm not going to change it for any boy or girl fancies. Marry Phillis, and you and she and your heirs after you shall have Hetherton, and plenty to keep it on. Don't marry her, and I shall find another successor. That's all. You can't have it more plainly." "Oh, it's plain enough," said Jack with some bitterness, walking over to the window. What he thought was that it placed a wider gulf than ever between them. For he could not think that she cared about Hetherton, and he knew he did--to a certain degree; and how could he come near her again with this condition hanging over them? "Well," he said, turning back to the fire, "then there's no more to be said, except that I still hope you will alter your determination. I wanted a word with you about young Masters." "What of him?" "Is he doing well?" "Just the reverse. We should have sent him off by this time if it had not been for my very good friend Mr Trent," said Mr Thornton, pressing up his under lip and looking defiantly at his nephew. "What are his sins?" "Perhaps you don't think so much of them in your set. We business men have an antiquated idea that it is dishonourable to give a promissory note when you have no means of meeting it when due." "I am sure Jack would never be dishonourable," murmured Mrs Thornton. "Ah--" said Jack musingly. "Then the money was not forthcoming?" "Certainly not." "And you heard of it?" "I was informed by Mr Trent, who being interested in the young scamp--" "His cousin," put in Jack.