"Don't! Don't, Elfrida! You distress yourself with thinking that I am disappointed in my plans for our dear girl. But I am not, really. It came upon me quite suddenly, you see, and I was not prepared for the thought of such a change. And so, you see, just at first, perhaps, I might have expressed more feeling of disappointment at the time than the matter justified. And----Well, I suppose Anglesea has told you, and you distress yourself on my account." "Anglesea has told me nothing that passed in his interview with you, dear Abel. Indeed, we have not exchanged a word on the subject since he spoke to you of it," said Mrs. Force, trying to suppress her sobs and calm her emotion. "Then why should you grieve so, dear? I am really not so much disappointed, after all; for, indeed, Anglesea behaved in such a frank, noble, generous manner, confessing the whole case to me, telling me how they--himself and Odalite--drifted into this attachment unawares, until it was too late to recede; and how, when he perceived that he loved her with all his heart and soul, he would have gone away rather than have sought to win her from the youth her parents had chosen for her husband; but how, when he discovered that his love was returned by her, he felt himself bound as a man of honor to declare his affection and offer her his hand, subject to her father's approval." "He--told you this?" demanded the lady, in a husky tone, turning away her head to conceal the look of scorn and hatred she could not entirely suppress. "Yes, dear! he told me this; and then--he left the case in my hands with perfect submission. Could any action have been more manly and straightforward? And she, too--Heaven bless her, she, too! She sent me word, through him, that though her heart was fixed on Angus Anglesea, yet she submitted herself entirely to my will, and would obey my commands. Did ever father have such a daughter, so gentle, so dutiful, so obedient as Odalite? Or did ever girl have such a lover, so noble, generous and magnanimous as Anglesea? Why--fine fellow--he felt for my disappointment as if it had been his own; and he exaggerated it, as I have told you! And he offered--dear fellow--to merge his own name in ours, so that my cherished wish to send the patronymic down with the estate might be carried out." "But that will not be necessary," said the lady, recovering from her emotion, and with a grim smile arising out of her own thoughts. "How, not necessary, my dear?" "In this way: Leonidas Force, who is but twenty-one, can afford to wait two years and marry Wynnette, who will then be of marriageable age. They can live at Greenbushes, and in due course of time they can succeed us here at Mondreer." "But Mondreer is the heritage of our eldest daughter."