"My father made me a gentleman, mother," said Richard, taking out a cigarette, "and I have the tastes of a gentleman. May I light this?" "Smoke if you wish to, Richard," said Mrs Glaire, quietly. "I have never stood in your way when that was a just one." Richard lit his cigarette, threw himself back in his chair with one leg over an arm, and said negligently-- "Well, if I am to be lectured, go on." "I am not going to lecture you, my son," said Mrs Glaire, firmly; "I am only interposing when I see you hesitating on the brink of a precipice." "Look here, mother," cried Richard; "do you want to quarrel?" "No, Richard, to advise." "Then don't talk stuff, mother." "I shall not, Richard, neither shall I let you put me off in what I wish to say. I am going to speak to you about Joseph Banks' daughter, and about the business." "Now, look here, mother," cried the young man, who, with all his desire to go, felt himself pinned down in his chair by a stronger will--"look here. What stuff have you got in your head about that little girl?" "The stuff, as you call it, that is the common talk of the town." "Oh, come, that's rich," cried Richard, with a forced laugh. "To keep me up here and scold me about the common talk of scandal-mad Dumford. Mother, I thought you had more sense." "And I, Richard, thought that you had more honour; that your father had brought you up as a gentleman; and that you really had the tastes of a gentleman." "Come, I say, this is coming it too strong, you know, mother," said the young man, in a feeble kind of protestation. "It is too hard on a fellow: it is indeed, you know." "Richard," continued Mrs Glaire, with her words growing more firm and deep as she proceeded, "I have had Daisy Banks in this house off and on for years, as the humble companion of Eve, who is shut out here from the society of girls of her own age. It was a foolish thing to do, perhaps, but I was confident in the honour and gentlemanly feeling of my son, the wealthiest and greatest man in Dumford--in the honour of my son who is engaged to be married to his second cousin, Eve Pelly, as good, pure-minded, and sweet a girl as ever lived." "Oh, Eve's right enough," said Richard, roughly, "or she ought to be, for I'm sick of hearing her praises." "A girl who loves you with her whole heart, and who only waits your wishes to endow you with the love and companionship that would make you a happy man to the end of your days." "Oh yes," said Richard, yawning. "I know all about that." "And what do I wake up to find?" "Goodness knows, mother; some mare's nest or another." "I wake up to find what Joseph Banks, our trusty old foreman, also wakes up to find." "What!" roared Richard, thrown off his balance; "does he know?" "Yes," said Mrs Glaire; "he, too, knows. Does that touch you home?" "Damn!" muttered Richard, between his teeth.