'Don't you think, sir,' said this man with the calm black eyes and the quiet manner, 'that it might be wiser, in the interests of your sister, if you were to help us to arrange some amicable settlement which we could put before the Court? I believe the guardians of the young lady were very much misinformed about my son's character and his intentions with regard to her. I am certain that it was not her fortune that attracted him, or that could have led him into the perilous position he now occupies. Now, if we could go before the Vice-Chancellor, and say, "The marriage is not so unsuitable, after all. The young man comes of a highly respectable family. His relations (that is, my brother and myself, sir) are willing to place a substantial sum at his disposal for investment in a sound business--indeed there is a brewery at Southampton that my brother has just been speaking of----"' 'A brewery!' exclaimed Mr. Tom; but he instantly recollected that beer was as good as soda-water from a social point of view. 'And if we could say to the Vice-Chancellor that the friends of the young lady were willing to condone his offence--always providing, of course, and naturally, that your sister's fortune should be strictly settled upon herself--then, perhaps, he might be let off with a humble apology to the Court; and the young people be left to their own happiness. My dear sir, we lawyers see so much of the inevitable hardship of human life that when a chance occurs of friendly compromise----' 'That's all very well,' blurted out Mr. Tom. 'But I call it very mean and shabby of him to inveigle my sister away like that. She was engaged to be married to an old friend of mine; a much better fellow, I'll be bound! I call it very shabby.' 'My dear sir,' said the lawyer, placidly, 'I do not seek for a moment to excuse my son's conduct, except to remind you that at a certain period of life romance counts for something. I believe many young ladies are like the young lady in the play--I really forget what her name was--who was disappointed to find that she was not to be run away with. However, that is a different matter. I put it to you whether it would not be better for every one concerned if we were to try to arrive at an amicable arrangement, and give the young people a fair start in life.' 'Of course I can't answer for all our side,' said Mr. Tom, promptly. 'You'd better come with me to-morrow, and we'll talk it over with Colonel Fitzgerald and Mr. Mason. I don't bear malice. I think what you say is fair and right--if the settlement is strict. And if it came to be a question of interceding, there's an old friend of ours, Sir George Stratherne, who, I know, knows the Vice-chancellor very intimately----'