Sir John edged his chair a few inches nearer the fire. He was feeling very nervous and ill at ease, but he was determined to bring matters to a head. He knew that Lord Probus was getting impatient, and he was just as impatient himself. Moreover, delays were often fatal to the best-laid plans. Dorothy came slowly into the room, and with a troubled look in her eyes. "You wanted to see me, father?" she questioned timidly. "Yes, I wanted to have a little talk with you. Please sit down." And he continued to stare at the fire. Dorothy seated herself in an easy-chair on the other side of the fireplace and waited. If he was nervous and ill at ease, she was no less so. She had a shrewd suspicion of what was coming, and she dreaded the encounter. Nevertheless, she had fully made up her mind as to the course she intended to take, and she was no longer a child to be wheedled into anything. Sir John looked up suddenly. "I have been thinking, Dorothy," he said, "that we ought to get the wedding over before Christmas. You seem almost as well as ever now, and there is no reason as far as I can see why the postponed ceremony should be any longer delayed." "Are you in such a great hurry to get rid of me?" she questioned, with a pathetic smile. "My dear, I do not want to get rid of you at all. You know the old tag, 'A daughter's a daughter all the days of her life,' and you will be none the less my child when you are the mistress of Rostrevor Castle." "I shall never be the mistress of Rostrevor Castle," she replied, with downcast eyes. "Never be the mistress of--never? What do you mean, Dorothy?" And he turned hastily round in his chair and stared at her. "I was only a child when I promised," she said timidly, "and I did not know anything. I thought it would be a fine thing to have a title and a house in town, and everything that my foolish heart could desire, and I did not understand what marriage to an old man would mean." "Lord Probus is anything but an old man," he said hastily. "He is in his prime yet." "But if he were thirty years younger it would be all the same," she answered quietly. "You see, father, I have discovered that I do not love him." "And you fancy that you love somebody else?" he said, with a sneer. "I did not say anything of the kind," she said, raising her eyes suddenly to his. "But I know I don't love Lord Probus, and I know I never shall." "Oh, this is simple nonsense!" he replied angrily. "You cannot play fast and loose in this way. You have given your solemn promise to Lord Probus, and you cannot go back on it." "But I _can_ go back on it, and I will!" "You mean that you will defy us both, and defy the law into the bargain?" "There is no law to compel me to marry a man against my will," she said, with spirit. "If there is no law to compel you, there's a power that can force you to keep your promise," he said, with suppressed passion. "What power do you refer to?" she questioned.