I was rather surprised that Margaret had said nothing on her brother’s behalf, and a little disappointed that she had not declared that her own interests ought not to stand in the way of her brother’s education; but I found that I had misjudged her. ‘Well, I owe this to Margaret,’ said Alec to me, as soon as we found ourselves alone together. ‘To your sister?’ I said, with some surprise. ‘Yes; my father thinks more of her opinion than he does of anybody else’s, and I know she has been urging him to let me go. As for that about injuring her, it is all stuff. Do you think I would take the money, if I didn’t know my father could afford it perfectly well?’ I hardly knew what reply to make to this, and Alec went on: ‘There will be a row between them one of these days. My father will want her to marry Semple. I know he is in love with her; and Margaret won’t have him.’ ‘I should think not, indeed!’ I exclaimed. I had seen this young fellow, and I confess I took a violent dislike to him. He came over to the farm one afternoon, and I thought I had never seen a more vulgar creature. He was dressed in the latest fashion--on a visit to a farmhouse, too! He had a coarse, commonplace face, a ready, officious manner, and the most awful accent I ever heard on the tongue of any human being. I cannot say I admire the Scotch accent; it is generally harsh and disagreeable; but when it is joined to an affectation of correctness, when every syllable is carefully articulated, and every _r_ is given its full force and effect, the result is overpowering. The young man was good enough to give me a considerable share of his attention, and I could hardly conceal my dislike of him. He patronized old Mr. Lindsay, was loftily condescending to Alec, and treated Margaret as if she ought to have been highly flattered by the admiration of so fine a gentleman. ‘Your respected cousin seemed to me as if he were greatly in need of a kicking,’ I said to Alec. ‘If he gets even a share of Uncle James’s property he will be a rich man,’ said Alec thoughtfully. ‘My father would think it a sin for Maggie to refuse a man with a hundred thousand pounds.’ ‘So would a good many fathers, I suppose,’ said I. I am sorry to see Alec’s attitude to his father; yet I fear he judges the old man only too accurately.