Dorothy was delighted to have her father with her again, and yet she was strangely puzzled as to the object of his visit. She was puzzled still more when a little later Ralph Penlogan was shown into the room where she and her father sat. She rose to her feet in a moment, while a hot blush swept over her neck and face. For a second or two she stood irresolute, and glanced hastily from one to the other. What was the meaning of it all? Her father, instead of glaring angrily at his visitor, received him with the greatest cordiality and even deference, while Ralph advanced with no sign of fear or hesitation. Neither of them appeared for the moment to be conscious of her presence. Ralph did not even look towards her. Then her father said in a low voice-- "You can leave us for a little while, Dorothy." She hurried out of the room with flaming cheeks and fast-beating heart. What could her father want with Ralph Penlogan? What was the mystery underlying his hurried visit? Could it have any reference to herself? Had her father relented? Had he at last come to see that character was more than social position--that a man was great not by virtue of birth, but by virtue of achievement? For the best part of an hour she sat in her own room waiting and listening. Then the dowager summoned her to read an article to her out of the _Spectator_. It grew dark at last, and Dorothy sought her own room once more, but she was so restless she could not sit still. The very air seemed heavy with fate. Her father and Ralph were still closeted in the library. What could they have to say to each other that kept them so long? When the lamps were lighted she stole out of her room and waited for a few moments on the landing. Then she ran lightly down the stairs into the hall. The library door was still closed, but a moment later it was pulled slightly open. She drew back into a recess and pulled a curtain in front of her, though why she did so she hardly knew. She could hear distinctly a murmur of voices, then came a merry peal of laughter. She had not heard her father laugh so merrily for years. Then the two men walked out into the hall side by side, and began to converse in subdued tones. She could see them very distinctly. How handsome Ralph looked in the light of the lamp. The squire went with his visitor to the front door, and opened it. She caught Ralph's parting words, "I will see to the matter without delay. Good-night!" When the squire returned from the door he saw Dorothy standing under the lamp with a look of inquiry in her eyes. CHAPTER XLIII SIR JOHN ATONES