'Yes, papa,' said she, feeling herself grow pale under the glance he gave through his inevitable _pince-nez_; 'our garden yields so little in the way of flowers, at this season especially. I can't afford, you know, to buy much music, cheap as it is, and--and----' 'There you go! reminding me of our poverty again,' said he, in a snappish tone; 'but flowers and music have both meanings--at least, they had in my time,' he added, turning away and thinking, 'I cannot permit her, for a mere girl's fancy--if a fancy she has--to throw away Cadbury Court and thirty thousand a year--egad, no!' Of the City man's coronet he thought little--the Cheynes of Essilmont required no coronets to enhance their old heraldic glories; but the City man's bank-book and acquired acres were a very different matter for consideration now! CHAPTER IX. A REPRIEVE FOR A TIME. 'We dine with Cadbury at the Court to-morrow--no party, just ourselves--sharp six--an early dinner,' said Sir Ranald to Alison, just as she returned from a meeting with Bevil Goring at the beeches. 'Very well, papa,' replied the girl, though she felt herself shiver with anticipation of the annoyance to which she might be subjected; 'has he returned so soon?' 'He--who?' 'Lord Cadbury.' 'Yes; Parliament has been suddenly prorogued.' In her heart she was sorry to hear it. 'The carriage will come for us punctually,' he added, regarding her earnestly, as he thought regretfully--when did he ever cease to do so?--of his own family carriage, with its hammercloth and heraldic insignia, and his dismay when Lady Cheyne--Alison's ailing mother--was first compelled to walk afoot or take a common cab. And old Archie Auchindoir groaned at the recollection thereof too, when he came to announce, with a snort, that 'the Cawdburry machine was at the porch.' Alison sighed as she entered it; an invitation to dinner was a small affair, but she felt as if the links of a chain were beginning to close around her while the easily-hung carriage rolled on between the hedgerows in the starlight. 'If his lordship makes any proposition to you to-night, I trust that for my sake, if not for your own, you will not, at least, insult him,' said Sir Ranald, breaking the silence suddenly. 'Papa--insult him!' exclaimed Alison, in a breathless voice, knowing but too well that the term 'proposition' meant a proposal, and her heart seemed to die within her as she pressed to her lips, in the dark, Bevil's engagement ring. 'For your sake and mine consider well and favourably his lordship's views,' said her father again. She remained silent, fearing that the note her father had received must have contained something more than the mere invitation to dinner. 'I shall lose the half of my life, Alison, when I lose you, but I must make up my mind for it one of these days.'