"Nothing of the sort, sir. Look at his name. Comes here from nobody knows where." "Yes, they do, sir. He comes here from Iquique, and he is one of the most famous naturalists of the day." "I don't care what he is. Comes here, I say; and just as at last that wretched old woman dies, and the Sandleighs is in the market--a place that ought by rights to belong to the manor--he must bid over that idiot Markby's head, and secure the place. I told Markby distinctly that I wanted that cottage and grounds. Went at such a price, he said. Fool! And then, when I offered this miserable foreign adventurer five hundred pounds to give it up, he must send me an insulting message." "It was only a quiet letter, my dear," said Lady Pinemount, "to say that he had taken a fancy to the place, and preferred to keep it." "You mind your own business," said his lordship, his florid face growing slightly apoplectic of aspect. "I'm not blind. But I won't have it. You write and ask the Elsgraves here; and you, Denis, recollect that I expect you to be civil to Hilda Elsgrave. The Earl and I quite understand each other about that." "If you expect me to begin paying attentions to a girl whom I dislike, and who dislikes me, sir," said the young man firmly, "I'm afraid you will be disappointed." "No, sir: look here--" "Edward, my love--" "Hold--your--tongue. I'm master while I live, and I'll have my way. You, Denis, you've got to marry Hilda; and if I hear of your hanging about the Sandleighs again, and talking to that half-bred Spanish hussy--" "Look here, father: when you insult Miss Salado, you insult me." "Silence, sir!" roared his lordship. "Listen to what I say. Insult you! Puppy! How dare you! The father's an adventurer, and you're mad after a big-eyed adventuress." "She is a lady, sir." "Silence! And as for you, Lady Pinemount, you must have been mad to call upon them. That was the beginning of the mischief." "Miss Salado is a very sweet, refined girl, Edward," said her ladyship quietly, "and it was a social duty to call." "Then you've done your duty, and there's an end of it. I won't have it, and I won't have the fellow staring over into my park. Coming and sticking himself there! Won't sell the place again, won't he? Never another inch of timber or head of beasts does that auctioneer sell for me." The Honourable Denis Rolleston was about to speak, but a meaning look from handsome, dignified Lady Pinemount silenced him, and the angry head of the family rose from his half finished lunch and paced the room.