Never before had I seen my uncle looking so startled as he was at that moment. The one point of his character on which he prided himself was his disbelief in the supernatural. To see him trembling at a mere sound was a surprise to me. I had yet to learn that extremes meet. Have there not lived philosophers who, denying the existence of ghosts, have nevertheless been so apprehensive of meeting them as never to enter a dark room without a light? My uncle's philosophy savoured very much of this character. "Bah!" he exclaimed, picking up his cigar from the grass after listening intently. "You are right. I _am_ becoming nervous. Well, I was on the point of saying----" "That you will never allow George to marry Daphne. Why?" "Why? Can you ask? Is not the reason obvious? A man who could desert her on her wedding-day, sending a cold note to the effect that she must never see him more, forfeits her by that very act. Good God! I become mad when I think of his conduct. Remember Daphne's thin, wasted figure and wan, wistful look last spring. She might have died. Grief has killed people before to-day. He must have known how much her heart would be wrung by his conduct, and yet--never a word of explanation from him. No. If he were to return this very night, he should never have her--never!" "I have often wondered why he took his departure so hurriedly." "His reason must have been a very bad one if it could not be stated by letter even to his nearest relatives," replied my uncle, speaking in a very bitter tone, for naturally he could not be expected to think well of the man who had deserted his daughter, even though that man were his own nephew. "His flight was accompanied by very suspicious circumstances, you must admit, seeming to point to complicity with, if not to the actual perpetration of crime. He will never return, rest assured of that; and I told Daphne to abandon the idea." "What was her answer?" "Tears. 'Look around you,' I said. 'You will soon find a worthier lover. Frank loves you, and you know it.' And I launched out into your praises, for between ourselves, Frank, there is no one to whom I would more willingly give Daphne than yourself." I suppose I ought to have thanked my uncle for thus championing my cause, but I preferred Daphne's love to turn towards me without being directed by paternal authority, so I merely said: "What did she say?" "She said that she could not so soon forget George, but that if he had not returned by a twelvemonth from the day he left--" "That is, next Christmas Day?" "Just so; next Christmas Day. If he had not returned by then she would try to think no more of him." "Next Christmas Day! What a whimsical notion!" "Exactly. Women _are_ whimsical," returned my uncle, speaking as if he had had all the experience of a Mormon. "Well, she did not seem-- What the devil's that?" he exclaimed with a suddenness that startled me.