"I am not sure but I am," equably answered Miss Diana. "I see no reason why you should not let him the farm; for there's no doubt he will prove a good tenant. He has spoken to me about its involving something more, should he obtain it," she continued, after a pause. "Ah," said Mr. Chattaway, without surprise. "Well?" "He wants us to give him Maude." Mr. Chattaway let fall his pen and it made a dreadful blot on his account-book, as he turned his head sharply on Miss Diana. "Maude! You mean Octave." "Pooh!" cried Miss Diana. "Octave has been spending her years looking after a mare's nest: people who do such foolish things must of necessity meet disappointment. George Ryle has never cared for her, never cast a thought to her." Mr. Chattaway's face was turning its disagreeable colour; and his lips were drawn as he glared at Miss Trevlyn. "He has been always coming here." "Yes. For Maude--as it turns out. I confess I never thought of it." "How do you know this?" "He has asked for Maude, I tell you. His hopes for years have been fixed upon her." "He shall never have her," said Mr. Chattaway, emphatically. "He shall never have the Upland Farm." "It was the decision--with regard to Maude--that crossed me in the first moment. I like him; quite well enough to give him Maude, or to give him Octave, had she been the one sought; but I do not consider his position suitable----" "Suitable! Why, he's a beggar," interrupted Mr. Chattaway, completely losing sight of his own intentions with regard to his daughter. "George Ryle shall smart for this. Give him Maude, indeed!" "But if Maude's happiness is involved in it, what then?" quietly asked Miss Diana. "Don't be an idiot," was the retort of Mr. Chattaway. "I never was one yet," said Miss Diana, equably. "But I have nearly made up my mind to give him Maude." "You cannot do it without my consent. She is under my roof and guardianship, and I tell you that she shall never leave it for that of George Ryle." "You should bring a little reason to your aid before you speak," returned Miss Diana, with that calm assumption of intellectual superiority which so vexed Mr. Chattaway whenever it peeped out. "What are the true facts? Why, that no living being, neither you nor any one else, can legally prevent Maude from marrying whom she will. You have no power to prevent it. She and Rupert have never had a legally-appointed guardian, remember. But for the loss of that letter, written at the instance of their mother when she was dying, and which appears to have vanished so mysteriously, _I_ should have been their guardian," pointedly concluded Miss Diana. "And might have married Maude as I pleased." Mr. Chattaway made no reply, except that he nervously bit his lips. If Diana Trevlyn turned against him, all seemed lost. That letter was upon his conscience as he sat there; for he it was who had suppressed it.