"Settle with Dan? I'll settle with Alick first, Bella, and if he has given that scoundrel the whip hand of me I'll break every bone in his body." "But it may not be true. It cannot be true. Unless Alick tells me so himself I'll never believe a word of it." They were at tea in the dining-room, country fashion, the Speaker at the head of the table with a plate of fish before him, and his wife and daughters at either side, when Alick entered. "Helloa!" he cried, with a forced gaiety. But only his mother responded to his greeting and made room for him by her side. She saw that he was paler and thinner, and that his hand trembled when he took his cup. The Speaker, who had turned his rough shoulder to his son, tried to restrain himself from breaking out on him until the meal would be over and he could take him into his own room, but before long his impatience overcame him. "What's this we're hearing about you--that you are carrying on with a girl?" "Do you mean Bessie Collister, Sir?" said Alick. "Certainly I mean Bessie Collister. And I thought you gave me your word that you would see no more of her." "But that was the promise of a boy, Sir. Did you expect it to bind the man also?" "The man? The man!" said the Speaker, mimicking his son's voice in a mincing treble. "Do you call yourself a man, bringing disgrace on your name and family." "What disgrace, Sir?" "What disgrace? All the island seems to have heard of it. Is it necessary to tell you? Living secret, so they say, with a woman who isn't fit company for your mother and sisters." "If anybody told you that, Sir," said Alick (his lower lip was trembling), "he told you a lie--a damned lie, Sir!" "There!" cried Mrs. Gell, turning to her husband. "What did I say? It isn't true, you see." "Of course it isn't true, mother; and the best proof that I'm not behaving dishonourably to Bessie Collister is that I intend to marry her." It was a sickening moment for Mrs. Gell, and the Speaker, for an instant, was dumbfounded. "Eh? What? You intend to marry...." "Yes, Sir; and that's why I'm here to-day--to bring you the news, and to ask you to restore the allowance you cut down in the spring, you know." "That .... that .... that bast--...." "Archie!" cried Mrs. Gell, indicating their daughters. "Bessie is a good girl, father," said Alick. "What happened before she was born wasn't her fault, Sir." "So you've come to bring us the news and to ask me to double your allowance? "If you please, Sir. You couldn't wish your son and his wife...." "His wife! There you are, Bella! That's what I've been working day and night thirty years for--to see my son throw half my earnings--all that I can't will away from him--into the hands of a man like Dan Baldromma!" "But Alick will be reasonable," said Mrs. Gell. "He'll give the girl up." "He'll have to do that, and quick too, or I'll cut off his allowance altogether."