“It was very kind of your father, truly; but I have not made up my mind about it.” “Not made up your mind? Why, when last I was down here, you said it would be the very best thing that could be done for him.” “True; but I have altered my mind since then. I should be very sorry to part with young Ned, and if any harm were to happen to him, I think it would kill me, for the more I see of him the more I like the lad.” “Ha, ha!” laughed Phillip; “there is no fear of that; the ship he would join will never sail more than ten miles out of port, so there’s no fear that your intended heir to the Darlington estates will come to harm.” “The intended heir to my estates, Phillip Redgill!” said the old man. “Ned and his brother are poor orphans, and have no real claim on me.” At this moment Ned entered the room quietly and heard all that had been said. “I was only joking,” Phillip replied, with a dry laugh. When his eye caught sight of Ned he changed countenance on the instant. Ned gazed at him fixedly with a look of proud contempt. “Phillip Redgill,” said Ned, defiantly, “I have by mere accident overheard all you have said.” “What! an eavesdropper in the hall!” said Redgill, with a sneer. “If you say so, you lie!” said Ned, fiercely; “and, to show you how little I think of you, how much I despise you, take that!” he said, slapping Redgill in the face, “and, if you dare, resent it.” In an instant the colour rose to Redgill’s face. He drew his sword and darted towards Wildfire Ned. “Come on,” said Ned, whipping up the old knight’s sword that lay on the table. “Put down your swords,” the old man cried, getting between them. “What is the meaning of all this?” Redgill looked for a second at the firm, handsome features of Wildfire Ned, and the eagle-like glance of the brave lad cowed his own craven heart. He could not look him in the face. “Come on,” said Ned. “Nay, turn not so deadly pale, coward.” “Put up your weapons, I say,” the old man said, sternly. Redgill did so, and bit his lips until they became bloodless and white. “Why carry a sword if afraid to use it?” said Ned, scornfully turning on his heel. After a pause Wildfire Ned said, calmly and slowly— “Redgill, you are not a man; you are a coward, a snake in the grass; you leave a poisonous slime wherever you go. Bloody deeds follow in your wake wherever you tread! There is no love lost between us, ’tis true; but you are a mischief-maker; a deceiver; I could say more perhaps.” “Say on,” said Redgill, turning pale.