"I am," replied Leo, bitterly, "ashamed that I have endured this humiliating position for so long. I was only a child when you brought me here, and had no voice in the matter. Yet, out of gratitude, I have borne with your injustice, and--" "Injustice!" broke in Mrs Gabriel. "What do you mean?" "My meaning is not hard to gather, mother. You have never been just to me, and the bread with which you have fed me has been bitter enough to swallow. Do you think that I can go on listening to your angry words without a protest? I cannot. My position is not of my own making, and since you find me a burden and an ungrateful creature, the best thing will be to put an end to the position." "Indeed!" sneered the woman. "And how do you propose to do that? You are quite unable to earn your own living." "Oh, there is one way of doing that," replied Leo, grimly. "It does not need much education to be a soldier." "A soldier!" screamed Mrs Gabriel. "Yes. I made inquiries while I was in London, as I knew very well what welcome you would give me. It is my intention to volunteer for the war." "You'll do nothing of the sort." "I beg your pardon. I have made up my mind." "Then I shall have nothing more to do with you." "That is as you please, Mrs Gabriel. You are my aunt, and I suppose you have the right to support me out of charity. At any rate, you have no right to keep me here and taunt me all the time with my inability to keep myself. Again I say that the position is none of my making. However, I intend to relieve you of the burden of a useless man. Next week I shall enlist. Then you will be well rid of me." Mrs Gabriel gasped. "I forbid you!" she cried, with a stamp. "I am afraid I must decline to accept the command," said Haverleigh, with great coolness. "You have told me often enough that I am a beggar and a loafer. You shall do so no longer. As to my debts, I shall see to them myself. You need not pay them, nor need you continue my allowance. I earn my own bread from this moment." "How dare you, Leo? Do you not owe me something?" "No! You have cancelled all obligation by the way in which you have treated me. Everything you have done has been done grudgingly. If you did not intend to behave as a woman should, why, in Heaven's name, did you not leave me to be dependent on strangers? They could scarcely have been more harsh to me than you have been. But this is the end of it. I relieve you from this hour of the burden you complain of." "Take care. I intended you to be my heir, and--" "I decline to accept further favours at your hands," said Leo, proudly; "for what you have done I thank you, but I do not care to accept an inheritance as a favour. Now you know my intentions and I shall not change them."