The speaker's tone betrayed bitterness of feeling. Theresa looked pained. "Father, I am sure--" "Don't be sure of anything, my dear, with regard to Stephen! He has fallen more and more under Meynell's influence of late, and I more than suspect that when the time comes he will take sides openly with him. It will be a bitter blow to me, but that he doesn't consider. I don't expect consideration from him, either as to that--or other things. Has he been hanging round the Fox-Wiltons lately as usual?" Theresa looked troubled. "He told me something the other night, father, I ought to have told you. Only--" "Only what? I am always kept in the dark between you." "Oh, no, father! but it seems to annoy you, when--when I talk about Stephen, so I waited. But the Rector and Lady Fox-Wilton have quite forbidden any engagement between Stephen and Hester. Stephen _did_ propose--and they said--not for two years at least." "You mean to say that Stephen actually was such a fool?" said her father violently, staring at her. Theresa nodded. "A girl of the most headstrong and frivolous character!--a trouble to everybody about her. Lady Fox-Wilton has often complained to me that she is perfectly unmanageable with her temper and her vanity! The worst conceivable wife for a clergyman! Really, Stephen--" The master of the house pushed his plate away from him in speechless disgust. "And both Lady Fox-Wilton and the Rector have always taken such trouble about her--much more than about the other children!" murmured Theresa, helplessly. "What sort of a bringing up do you think Meynell can give anybody?" said her father, turning upon her. Theresa only looked at him silently, with her large mild eyes. She knew it was of no use to argue. Besides, on the subject of the Rector she very much agreed with her father. Her deafness and her isolation had entirely protected her from Meynell's personal influence. "A man with no religious principles--making a god of his own intellect--steeped in pride and unbelief--what can he do to train a girl like Hester? What can he do to train himself?" thundered Barron, bringing his hand down on the table-cloth. "Every one says he is a good man," said Theresa, timidly. "In outward appearance. What's that? A man like Meynell, who has thrown over the Christian faith, may fall into sin at any moment. His unbelief is the result of sin. He can neither help himself--nor other people--and you need never be surprised to find that his supposed goodness is a mere sham and delusion. I don't say it is always so, of course," he added. Theresa made no reply, and the subject dropped. Barron returned to his letters, and presently Theresa saw his brow darken afresh over one of them. "Anything wrong, father?"