"Quite, my lad. It is all a boy and a girl piece of nonsense. Yes; you two have known each other from children, been playfellows and the like, but I could never sanction my child's marriage to one who leads such a life as yours." "But, Mr Elthorne--" "Hear me out, my lad. I tell you frankly, I like you and always did as a boy and the friend of my sons, but as my prospective son-in-law, once for all, it is impossible." "Mr Elthorne!" cried the young man appealingly. "No, my lad, no; so give up all thought of it at once. Isabel will leave home one of these days, but not with you. You are not the man. Do you ride with us this morning?" Beck did not answer for the moment, for he was half stunned, but an angry flush came into his cheeks just then, for Sir Cheltnam's voice was heard through the open window. There was the cause of his rejection, he felt sure, and, full of resentment and the feeling that Mr Elthorne had not treated him well, he replied sharply: "Yes, sir, I shall go with the party this morning, and if I tell you that I cannot give up my hopes--" "Ah, well," said Mr Elthorne sharply, "you will think differently, I dare say, after the first smart of the disappointment has worn off." "Ready, father?" came from the window. "Yes. Have they got the horse round?" "All right. Burwood is going to try him over a fence or two before we start." "I'll come," said Mr Elthorne. "You like horses, Beck; come and see the leaping." Beck followed mechanically, cut to the heart by the half-contemptuous, cold-blooded way in which his aspirations were treated, and in a few minutes he stood with the others looking at the noble looking animal held by a groom, while Sir Cheltnam examined him after the fashion of a dealer, and then mounted. "I'll trot him across the park and take the hedge, and the fence as I come back. Thick in his breathing, you think?" "Yes, I thought so," said Mr Elthorne. "Well, we shall soon know, and if he is, I'd make them take him back." Sir Cheltnam mounted and went off at a sharp trot for some hundred yards, curved round full into sight, and, increasing his pace, came toward them at a good swinging gallop, rose at a hedge, cleared it well, and then pressed the horse on toward a stiffish fence, which it also cleared capitally, and cantered back to the waiting party, where Sir Cheltnam pulled up and leaped down. "I can detect nothing," he said. "You did not take him far enough to prove it," said Mr Elthorne shortly. "I'll canter him down to the far hedge and back." As he approached the horse, there was the trampling of other hoofs, the groom and helper bringing round the horses ordered for the morning ride, while just seen in the distance over the hedge which ran along by the road were the heads of the sisters coming over to join in the excursion. The next minute Mr Elthorne was in the saddle, and the horse sprang forward at a touch.