"Eh? think it over. Of course I shall. Sorry I can't oblige you, gentlemen. Good-evening." "Grinning at us all the time--a miserable old miser!" said Harry, as they began to walk back. "He'd have done it if you hadn't made such a mess of it, Vic, with your free-and-easy way." "It's precious vexatious, Harry; but take care, or you'll sling that locket out to sea," said Pradelle, after they had been walking for about ten minutes. "You'll have to think about my proposal. You can't go on like this." "No," said Harry fiercely; "I can't go on like this, and I'll have the money somehow." "Bravo! That's spoken like a man who means business. Harry, if you keep to that tone, we shall make a huge fortune a-piece. How will you get the money?" "I'll ask Duncan Leslie for it. He can't refuse me. I should like to see him say `No.' He must and he shall." "Then have a hundred, dear lad. Don't be content with fifty." "I will not, you may depend upon that," cried Harry, "and--" He stopped short, and turned white, then red, and took half-a-dozen strides forward towards where Madelaine Van Heldre was seated upon one of the stone resting-places in a niche in the cliff--the very one where Duncan Leslie had had his unpleasant conversation with Aunt Marguerite. The presence of his sister's companion, in spite of their being slightly at odds, might have been considered pleasant to Harry Vine; and at any other time it would have been, but in this instance, she was bending slightly forward, and listening to Duncan Leslie, who was standing with his back to the young men. Only a minute before, and Harry Vine had determined that with the power given by Leslie's evident attachment to his sister, he would make that gentleman open his cash-box, or write a cheque on the Penzance bank for a hundred pounds. The scene before him altered Harry Vine's ideas, and sent the blood surging up to his brain. He stepped right up to Madelaine, giving Leslie a furious glance as that gentleman turned, and without the slightest preface, exclaimed-- "Look here, Madelaine, it's time you were at home. Come along with me." Madelaine flushed as she rose; and her lips parted as if to speak, but Leslie interposed. "Excuse me, Miss Van Heldre, I do not think you need reply to such a remark as that." "Who are you!" roared Harry, bursting into a fit of passion that was schoolboy-like in its heat and folly. "Say another word, sir, and I'll pitch you off the cliff into the sea." "Here, steady, old fellow, steady!" whispered Pradelle; and he laid his hand on his companion's arm. "You mind your own business, Vic; and as for you--" He stopped, for he could say no more. Leslie had quite ignored his presence, turning his back and offering his arm to Madelaine. "Shall I walk home with you, Miss Van Heldre?" he said. For answer, and without so much as looking at Harry Vine, Madelaine took the offered arm, and Pradelle tightened his hold as the couple walked away.