"Not in the least. George is not very clever, but he has at any rate had wit enough to submit to the influence of his own legal adviser,--or rather to the influence of your legal adviser. Your own man, Mr. Battle, is convinced. You are going on with this in opposition even to him. What the devil is it you want? I am not dead, and may outlive at any rate you. Your girl hasn't got a child, and doesn't seem likely to have one. You happen to have married her into a noble family, and now, upon my word, it seems to me that you are a little off your head with downright pride." "Was it for this you sent for me?" "Well;--yes it was. I thought it might be as well to argue it out. It isn't likely that there should be much love between us, but we needn't cut each other's throats. It is costing us both a d----d lot of money; but I should think that my purse must be longer than yours." "We will try it, my lord." "You intend to go on with this persecution then?" "The Countess Luigi was presumably a married woman when she bore that name, and I look upon it as a sacred duty to ascertain whether she was so or not." "Sacred!" said the Marquis, with a sneer. "Yes;--sacred. There can be no more sacred duty than that which a father owes to his child." "Ah!" Then the Marquis paused and looked at the Dean before he went on speaking. He looked so long that the Dean was preparing to take his hat in his hand ready for a start. He showed that he was going to move, and then the Marquis went on speaking. "Sacred! Ah!--and such a child!" "She is one of whom I am proud as a father, and you should be proud as a sister-in-law." "Oh, of course. So I am. The Germains were never so honoured before. As for her birth I care nothing about that. Had she behaved herself, I should have thought nothing of the stable." "What do you dare to say?" said the Dean, jumping from his seat. The Marquis sat leaning back in his arm-chair, perfectly motionless. There was a smile,--almost a pleasant smile on his face. But there was a very devil in his eye, and the Dean, who stood some six feet removed from him, saw the devil plainly. "I live a solitary life here, Mr. Dean," said the Marquis, "but even I have heard of her." "What have you heard?"