'Come to what? Is there anything the matter? Please do not look so pale over it.' What had she heard--what new vexation was this? But as he stood beside her, even he caught the low, vehement tones of some angry discussion. There was no denying Ethel's paleness; she almost wrung her hands. 'Of course; did I not tell you? Oh, you do not know papa! When he is angry like this, he will say things that no one can bear. Dr. Heriot will never come here again--never! He is quarrelling with all his friends. By and by he will with you, and then you will learn to hate us.' 'No, no--you must not say that,' replied Richard, soothingly. With her distress all his courage had returned. He even ventured to touch her hand, but she drew it quickly away. She was not thinking of Richard now, but of a certain kind friend whose wise counsels she had learnt to value. At least he should not go without bidding her good-bye. Ethel never thought of prudence in these moments of hot indignation. To Richard's dismay she caught her hand away from him and flung open the door. 'Why is Dr. Heriot going, papa?' she asked, walking up to them with a certain majesty of gait which she could assume at times. As she asked the question she flashed one of her keen, open-eyed looks on her father. The Squire's olive complexion had turned sallow with suppressed wrath, the veins on his forehead were swollen like whipcord; as he answered her, the harshness of his voice grated roughly on her ear. 'You are not wanted, Ethel; go back to young Lambert. I cannot allow girls to interfere in my private business.' 'You have quarrelled with Dr. Heriot, papa,' returned Ethel, in her ringing tones, and keeping her ground unflinchingly, in spite of Richard's whispered remonstrance. 'Come away--you will only make it worse,' he whispered; but she had turned her face impatiently from him. 'Papa, it is not right--it is not fair. Dr. Heriot has done nothing to deserve such treatment; and you are sending him away in anger.' 'Ethel, how dare you!' returned the Squire. 'Go back into that room instantly. If you have no self-respect, and cannot control your feeling, it is my duty to protect you.' 'Will you protect me by quarrelling with all my friends?' returned Ethel, in her indignant young voice; her delicate nostrils quivered, the curve of her long neck was superb. 'Dr. Heriot has only told you the truth, as he always does.' 'Indeed, you must not judge your father--after all, he has a right to choose his own friends in his own house--you are very good, Miss Trelawny, to try and defend me, but it is your father's quarrel, not yours.' 'If you hold intercourse with my daughter after this, you are no man of honour----' began the Squire with rage, but Dr. Heriot quietly interrupted him.