Ormsby was laying siege to the citadel cautiously, as was his way. Bluff Jack Lorrimer's courage was paralyzed by his love, and he drank deep to dispel his melancholy. Harry Bent--who was already under the spell of Netty Swinton, Dick's sister's--was indifferent, and Carnaby had been rejected three times, despite his millions. Colonel Dundas saw nothing to alarm him in the admiration of these young men for his daughter until Dick Swinton came along, and Dora changed into a dreamy, solemn young person. She lost all her audacity, and her hot temper was put to rest for ever. Dick worshiped with his eyes in such a manner that only the blind could fail to read the signs. He was not loquacious, and Dora was unaccountably shy. They never spoke of love until one day Dick, with simple audacity, and favored by unusual circumstances--under the light of the moon--clasped the girl to his heart, and kissed her. She cried, and he imprisoned her in his arms for a full minute. For ransom and release, she gave her lips unresistingly, and he uncaged her. "Now, you're mine," he murmured, with a great sigh of relief, "and we're engaged." She smiled and nodded, and came to his heart again of her own accord. And not a word was said to anybody. It was all too precious and wonderful and beautiful. And yet she expected him to go away. At the club, to-day everybody stared to see Ormsby and Dick Swinton meet as though nothing had happened overnight, and the news was soon buzzing around that Swinton was going, after all. Jack Lorrimer explained that Dick had at last procured the consent of his grandfather, without which it would have been impossible for him to go. Everybody wondered why they had not thought of that before, and laughed at the overnight business. On his return to the rectory, Dick met his mother in the porch. "Mother!" he cried, in a voice that was husky with emotion. "I've got to go. I've just given my name in to the colonel, and the money must be found somehow. Ormsby has dared to insinuate that I'm a coward. I--" "It's all right, Dick. You can have your outfit; I've got enough. I suppose five hundred dollars will cover it?" "It'll have to, if that's all I can get, mother." "That is all I can spare." "Out of grandfather's two thousand?" "Most of it has already gone. A thousand to your father for the builder man, a hundred to that wretch who was here yesterday, and the rest to pay some of my own debts. My luck has deserted me lately. I shall have to beg of your grandfather again to get the five hundred you want." Dick groaned. "I know, my boy, that it is very humiliating to have to beg for money which really belongs to one--for it does belong to us, to you and me, I mean--as much as to him, doesn't it? It's maddening to think that the law allows a man to ruin his relations because senility has weakened his intellect." "He's an old brute," growled Dick, as he strode away. CHAPTER V DEBTS