'His interference in our family affairs. A card-playing fortune-hunter, as I denounced him to be before; he was here no longer ago than yesterday afternoon, pursuing his designs upon our soft-hearted, and I must say, remarkably soft-headed, Mary! I felt inclined to chuck him through the window. Must not this matter be stopped, sir, and with the strong hand?' 'Stopped; I should think so. Should he attempt to cross me, he'd better touch the fuse of a live shell!' replied the old man sharply, while memory went back to the bitter times when his young Piers, so loved, petted, and prized, forgot the high traditions of his family, and daringly linked his fate with a humble girl, whom the proud baronet declined to receive or recognise, most unwisely, as he thought at times now. 'We are an old family, Hew,' he resumed, after a pause; 'and you will be the inheritor of my title in an untarnished condition; but you must not rest upon it alone, and, with Mary's money added to what I have to leave you--Eaglescraig, wood and wold, tower and manor-place--great things may be achieved. You will cherish Mary when I am gone, even as I have cherished her; for I have nothing else now,' he added, as he thought of his dead son and the never-to-be-forgotten night of the dread and shadowy vision. 'I cannot persuade her to enter even into a preliminary and formal engagement with me,' said Hew, after another pause. 'But,' urged the general, polishing his bald head with fidgety irritation, 'surely, by this time, something is understood?' 'That--that she will one day be my wife?' 'Yes, of course.' 'But when?' 'When I issue _the order_!' said Sir Piers, as he stood with his back to the fire and his feet planted on the hearthrug in orderly-room fashion. Hew smiled feebly, as if he feared Mary would care little for such a ukase. 'Devil take this forthcoming ball!' he exclaimed suddenly. 'That fellow will be there, of course.' 'In his regimentals, too--a good old phrase that!' said Sir Piers. 'But the ball is somewhat of a nuisance, especially as Mary is not yet _disillusionné_. Yet she is not a child, that I may prevent her going to where she has set her heart upon. But one thing is certain; she must neither speak to, nor dance with him on that occasion.' 'I should think not!' said Hew, savagely. 'It is very unfortunate for you, my dear lad, if she has conceived any absurd fancy for this young man.' 'Oh, I don't care much for that, or whether or not the bloom is quite wiped off the plum,' was the nonchalant reply of Hew, at whose remark the general elevated his eyebrows.