Blair remained silent. Elizabeth was too acute for him then. “Of course,” he said after a moment, “I respect the boy for the spirit Bulstrode says he has shown, and I hope he’ll stick to it. I hope he’ll make a fight for it and come out ahead, and prosper, and have all the money that’s good for him. Skelton has got a very handsome estate of his own to give him; and he may be master of Deerchase yet.” “And our little Mary may be mistress of Deerchase,” said Elizabeth, who had a truly feminine propensity for concocting marriages for her children from their cradles. “Never!” Blair brought his fist down on the arm of his chair. “She shall marry respectably or not at all; and though I like money, my daughter shall never marry any man who has no name to give her.” “Perhaps they may run away,” remarked Mrs. Blair demurely, at which they both laughed a little, and Blair kissed his wife. But there was still battle between them. Mrs. Blair wanted the matter to rest; Blair wanted to agitate it immediately. “Mr. Bulstrode meant to make me happy,” she said bitterly, after a while; “but I doubt if he has. I even doubt, if that money comes to us, whether it may not do us more harm than good.” “I understand quite well what you mean,” cried Blair, blazing up. “You think I will go back to horse racing, and gambling, and a few other vices. That is the confidence you have in my word. I tell you, Elizabeth, a man can’t have any confidence in himself unless somebody else has some confidence in him; and a man’s wife can make a scoundrel of him easier than anybody in the world.” “I did not suspect that I was calculated to make a scoundrel of a man,” answered Elizabeth; and Blair taking out his watch ostentatiously and picking up his cigar again, she rose to go. Their voices had not risen beyond the most ordinary pitch, yet the first serious quarrel of their married life had come about. Blair relighted her candle for her, and held the door wide open until she had reached the top of the stair. He was very polite to her, but he was more angry with her than he supposed he ever could be. He was angry with her for the little she said, but more angry with her for the great deal she implied; and he meant to have some money on his expectations, if it were in the power of mortal man. CHAPTER XVI.