"I must beg of you, my dear sir," said Mr. Lind, with the same calm courtesy, "to keep private interests and projects entirely outside of this matter, which relates to the Society alone, and your duty, and the wishes of those with whom you are associated. You have decided?--very well. I am sorry; but you are within your right." "How can you talk like that?" said Brand, bluntly. "Sorry that your daughter is not to marry a beggar?" "I must decline to have Natalie introduced into this subject in any way whatever," said Mr. Lind. "Let us drop the subject, then," said Brand, in a friendly way, for he was determined to have some further enlightenment. "Now about Natalie. May I ask you plainly if you have any objection to a marriage between her and myself?" The answer was prompt and emphatic. "I have every objection. I have said before that it would be inexpedient in many ways. It is not to be thought of." Brand was not surprised by this refusal; he had expected it; he had put the question as a matter of form. "Now one other question, Mr. Lind, and I shall be satisfied," said he, watching the face of the man opposite him with a keen scrutiny. "Was it ever your intention, at any time, to give your consent to our marriage, in any circumstances whatever?" Ferdinand Lind was an admirable actor. "Is it worth while discussing imaginary things--possibilities only?" he said, carelessly. "Because, you see," continued Brand, who was not to be driven from his point, "any plain and ordinary person, looking from the outside at the whole affair, might imagine that you had been merely temporizing with me, neither giving nor refusing your consent, until I had handed over this money; and that, as you had never intended to let your daughter marry, that was the reason why you did not care whether I retained a penny of my own property or not." Lind did not flinch for an instant; nor was there the slightest trace of surprise, or annoyance, or resentment in his look. He rose and pushed back his chair. "Suppose we let outsiders think what they please, Mr. Brand," said he, with absolute composure. "We have more serious matters to attend to." Brand rose also. He guessed what was coming, and he had nerved himself to face it. The whole course of this man's action was now as clear to him as noonday. "I have been considering further the suggestion I mentioned to you the other day, that you should go over to some of the big American cities," said Mr. Lind, almost with an indifferent air as he turned over some papers. "We are strong there; you will find plenty of friends; but what is wanted is cohesion, arrangement, co-operation. Now you say yourself this Mr. Molyneux would be an admirable successor to you in the North?" "None better," said Brand. This sentence of banishment had been foreseen; he knew how to encounter it when it came. "I think, on the whole, it would be advisable then. When could you go?"