She hesitated painfully, and her eyes went to her brother's face again in troubled appeal. He made no response to her look, but when the clock on the mantelpiece had ticked half a dozen audible beats and she had not spoken, he turned to Mackenzie. "I see," he said. "You have----" "Oh, let her speak," Mackenzie interrupted roughly, with a flashing glance at him. "You have had your say." "It is quite plain, sir," proceeded Dick in his level voice, "that you have gained some sort of influence over my sister." "Oh, that is plain, is it?" sneered Mackenzie. "Excuse me if I don't express myself very cleverly," said Dick. "What I mean is that somehow you have managed to _bully_ her into running away with you." They looked into one another's eyes for an instant. The swords were crossed. Mackenzie turned to Cicely. "Did I do that?" he asked quietly. "If I might suggest," Dick said, before she could reply, "that you don't try and get behind my sister, but speak up for yourself----" "Did I do that?" asked Mackenzie again. "O Dick dear," said Cicely, "I said I would come. It was my own fault." "Your own fault--yes," said Dick. "But I am talking to this--this gentleman, now." Mackenzie faced him again. "Oh, we're to have all that wash about gentlemen, are we? I'm not a gentleman. That's the trouble, is it?" "It is part of the trouble," said Dick. "A good big part." "Do you know what I do with the _gentlemen_ who come worrying me for jobs when I go on an expedition, Captain Clinton--the gentlemen who want to get seconded from your regiment and all the other smart regiments, to serve under me?" "Shall we stick to the point?" asked Dick. "My cab is waiting." Mackenzie's face looked murderous for a moment, but he had himself in hand at once. "The point is," he said, "that I am going to marry your sister, with her consent." "The point is how you got her consent. I am here in place of my father--and hers. If she marries you she marries you, but she doesn't do it before I tell her what she is letting herself in for." "Then perhaps you will tell her that." "I will." Dick looked at Cicely. "I should like to ask you to begin with when you first met--Mr. Mackenzie," he said. "Dear Dick!" cried Cicely, "don't be so cruel. I--I--was discontented at home, and I----" "We met first at Graham's house," said Mackenzie, "when you were there. I first spoke to her alone on Sunday afternoon, and she promised to come away and marry me on Sunday night. Now go on." "That was when you told Graham that you couldn't sleep, I suppose, in the middle of the night." "I walked over from Mountfield, and she came to me in the garden, as I had asked her to. We were together about three minutes."