He was speaking stiffly, and any one might have seen that he suspected nothing very agreeable as the result of Mr. Arden's communication. When they had got into the dining-room, and the door was closed, Lord Wynderbroke, with his head a little high, invited Mr. Arden to proceed. "Then, as you are in a hurry, you'll excuse my going direct to the point. I've come here in consequence of a note that reached me about an hour ago, informing me that my niece, Alice Arden, has suffered a great deal of annoyance. You know, of course, to what I refer?" "I should extremely regret that the young lady, your niece, should suffer the least vexation, from any cause; but I should have fancied that her happiness might be more naturally confided to the keeping of her father, than of a relation residing in a different house, and by no means so nearly interested in consulting it." "I see, Lord Wynderbroke, that I must address you very plainly, and even coarsely. My brother Reginald does not consult her happiness in this matter, but merely his own ideas of a desirable family connection. She is really quite miserable; she has unalterably made up her mind. You'll not induce her to change it. There is no chance of that. But by permitting my brother to exercise a pressure in favour of your suit----" "You'll excuse my interrupting for a moment, to say that there is, and can be, nothing but the perfectly legitimate influence of a parent. _Pressure_, there is none--none in the world, Sir; although I am not, like you, Mr. Arden, a relation--and a very near one--of Sir Reginald Arden's, I think I can undertake to say that he is quite incapable of exercising what you call a pressure upon the young lady his daughter; and I have to beg that you will be so good as to spare me the pain of hearing that term employed, as you have just now employed it--or _at all_, Sir, in connection with me. I take the liberty of insisting upon that, _peremptorily_." Mr. Arden bowed, and went on: "And when the young lady distinctly declines the honour you propose, you persist in paying your addresses, as though her answer meant just nothing." "I don't quite know, Sir, why I've listened so long to this kind of thing from you; you have no right on earth, Sir, to address that sort of thing to me. How dare you talk to me, Sir, in that--a--a--audacious tone upon my private affairs and conduct?" Uncle David was a little fiery, and answered, holding his head high,--