"'I am afraid, my lord, that solemn agreements of this kind are not so easily broken. Consider my daughter's feelings.' "'I am perfectly willing to consider her feelings, sir,' says the old gentleman, with a little odd bow. Then he turned to me and said,-- "'May I ask a direct question? Are you genuinely attached to my son?' "I wished he wouldn't keep on at me like that. However, I had to keep my end up, so I said, in a sort of soft voice, 'Yes.' "'Ah,' said he, as if he was thinking. Then Dad, evidently considering we were wasting time, put in,-- "'If this match is broken off, my daughter's susceptibilities must be solaced in a very substantial manner.' "Then the old gentleman turned and looked Dad through and through, and said, 'Ah!' again, as much as to say, 'I thought so.' "'Well,' he said at last, 'how much do you want?' "'_I_?' says Dad, still playing the game--'nothing. _I_ am not the injured party. It is for my poor girl to say.' "The Earl looked at me. I took a big breath, and said, 'A hundred thousand pounds.' "'You value your heart at rather a high figure, madam,' says he. (Do you remember, those were the very words _you_ used to me, Jack?) Then he swings round to Dad, and says,-- "'Of course this is preposterous. I am willing to pay you five thousand pounds, to extricate my son from the trap, the carefully baited trap'--he looked all round the room, and I _knew_ he knew everything in it had been got on the nod--'into which he has fallen. That is more than you would get out of the most impressionable jury, and I advise you to take it, Mr.--er--Lottingar.' "'Quite true, my lord,' says Dad. 'But you know you'd give more than a hundred thousand to keep the family name out of the courts. You don't want the papers to get hold of it. "A Cabinet Minister's son sued for Breach-of-Promise"--you know the sort of stuff--and Lottie's portrait in "The Sketch."' "'I am afraid we are wasting time, Mr. Lottingar,' says his lordship. 'If your daughter will sign a document, which I will draw up for her, renouncing all claims to my son, and undertaking not to molest him for the future, I will give her a cheque for five thousand pounds. If not, I must bid you good-afternoon.' "'A hundred thousand!' says Dad. "'I think you are acting foolishly,' says the old man, getting up. 'If you refuse my offer I shall go up to town now, and call on my solicitor to-morrow morning; and I think it highly probable, from what I see of your surroundings here, and from what I know of your antecedents already, that I shall be able to make it exceedingly risky for you to face the publicity of the law courts in any capacity whatsoever. In fact, I should not be surprised if you had to leave the country.' "My word, Jack, he was fine! He dropped each word out of his mouth like a little lump of ice. But old Dad stood up to him. He simply chuckled.