"Don’t want it! Then, young woman, you’re in love with him. I’ve come on a fool’s errand, and I’ll wish you good night." He was on his feet with the words. Maud rose too. She laid a hand of half-timid restraint upon his arm. "I am not--in love with him, Uncle Edward," she said, her voice not wholly steady. "Such a thing would be impossible. But at the same time--though I can’t give him everything--he shall not repent his bargain. We are going to be--friends." "Pshaw!" said Uncle Edward again. He gripped her hand unexpectedly, staring up at her with his keen eyes. "Do you know how old I am?" he said. She shook her head. "I’m eighty," he said. "I’ve seen a little of men in my time, and I’ve been a man myself. So let me tell you this! There’s not a man on this earth who could be satisfied for long with that kind of farce. You’ve got him on the leash now. He’s tame and good. But there’s a ravening wolf inside us all, my dear, when we’re thwarted, and the longer we’re thwarted the more savage we get. You can’t bring up a wolf--not the tamest wolf in the world--on bread and butter. Sooner or later he’ll begin to feel a bit empty, and whine for the real thing. And if you still go on starving the brute till he’s famished, he’ll either break away and go elsewhere for food, or else he’ll round on you one day and tear you in pieces. You’ll be the sufferer either way. It’s nature I tell you, it’s nature. You’ll have to give all or drive him away at the outset. There can’t be half-measures with a man who is a man. If you offer them you must expect trouble. And remember, it’s always the woman who pays in the end,--always the woman who pays." He repeated the words with the impressiveness of a judge pronouncing sentence. Maud was trembling, though she tried to conceal the fact. "And then there is Bunny to be thought of," she said. "Bunny? Who is Bunny? Oh, your brother, is it? And he’s a hopeless cripple, I understand? Is it for his sake that you’ve hatched this mad scheme?" "In a great measure. You see, he and--and Jake Bolton are very fond of one another." "Pshaw!" the old man exclaimed. "So this Jake Bolton is to have the boy, with you thrown in as a makeweight; is that it? And you think you’re all going to be happy together, do you? Never heard such a tomfool scheme in my life. Where does this Jake Bolton hang out? I’ll go and have a talk to him." "Oh, please don’t!" Maud begged. "He’ll think I sent you. And really--really there is nothing to discuss."