"Do you mean it, Sir?" said Alick--he was pushing his chair back. "Do I mean it? Certainly I mean it. You'll give the girl up or never another penny of mine shall you see as long as I live!" "All right," said Alick, rising from the table, "I'll earn my own living." The Speaker broke into a peal of scornful laughter. "You earn your living! That's rich!" "Give her up?" cried Alick. "I'll break stones on the highway or porter on the pier before I'll give up her little finger!" "You fool! You confounded fool! But no fear! She'll give you up when she finds you've lost your income." "Will she? I'll trust her for that, Sir." "Then get away back to her--you'll not be the first by a long way." Alick, who had been trying to laugh, stopped his laughter suddenly, and said, "What do you mean by that, Sir?" "Mean? Do you want me to tell you what I mean?" "Archie," cried Mrs. Gell, and again she indicated their daughters. "Get out of this, will you?" cried the Speaker to the girls, who had been sitting with their noses in their teacups. The girls fled from the room, but stood outside to listen. "Father," said Alick, "you must tell me what you mean." "Mean! Mean! Don't stand there cross-examining your own father. You know what I mean! If half they say about the young b-- .... is true she's fit enough for it, anyway." "If any other man had said that," said Alick, quivering, "I should have knocked him down, Sir." "What's that? You threaten me?" cried the Speaker. His voice was like the scream of a sea-gull, and making a step towards Alick he lifted his clenched fist to him. Mrs. Gell intervened, and Alick retreated a pace or two. "Take care, Sir," he said. "You can't treat me like that now. I'm not a child any longer." "Then get away to your woman .... and to hell, if you want to." "There was no need to tell me twice, Sir. I'm going. And as God is my witness, I'll never set foot in this house again." At the next moment the peacocks were screaming outside, and the Speaker, who had thrown up the window, was shouting through it in a broken roar, "Alick! Alick Gell! Come back, you damned scoundrel! Alick! Alexander...." They had to carry him upstairs and send for Dr. Clucas. It had been another of his paralysing brain-storms. It was not to be expected that he could bear many more of them. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE BURNING BOAT Two days later, Gell was stepping into the train for Castletown on his way to Derby Haven. "Give me up because my income is gone? Not Bessie! Not Bessie Collister!" But Bessie had gone through deep waters since he had seen her last.