"Hold!" repeated Mr. Cass, rising and beginning to pace the room in an agitated manner. "What do you mean? I have no hold." "In that case you should not have thrown him into the society of an impressionable fool like Ruth. I got the truth out of her to-night, though I had long suspected it. She loves him; and what's more she will defy you and marry him." "That she shall never do:" he said vehemently. "I tell you she will, and without your consent, unless you can talk her out of this infatuation and marry her to Heron." "There will be no need to talk her out of it." Mr. Cass said, coldly. "Webster will not marry her." "Do you mean that he will refuse?" "I mean that he will refuse," he replied with decision. "And under your influence?" "Under my influence. Yes." "Ah!" Aunt Inez drew a long breath, for her suspicions as to the identity of Webster were now confirmed. "Then you intend to use the knowledge of his father's murder to influence this so-called Webster?" "What do you mean?" Mr. Cass asked angrily. "Exactly what I say," retorted his sister. "I am not a fool, if you are Sebastian, Webster is the son of Jenner, who was murdered at the Turnpike House. I remember how his mother used to bring him here to beg for food. He is just the same nervous creature now as he was then. I could not recollect where I had seen him before until he recognised his father in that photograph----" "He did not recognize his father." "Perhaps he did not knew that the face, the sight of which made him faint, was that of his father," replied Mrs. Marshall. "But his fainting was quite enough for me. I remember Mrs. Jenner; he resembles her in every way. He is her son. Deny it if you can." "I do not deny it," Cass said sullenly. "But, for Heaven's sake, Inez, leave things alone, or harm will come of it." "Why, in Heaven's name, did you bring him down here?" "I never thought he would fall in love with Ruth. I brought him out of sheer kindness, because I was sorry for the poor, lonely young fellow. I will arrange the matter. Rest assured he never marry Ruth." "I hope not," said Mrs. Marshall, preparing to go. "I have done my duty." "No doubt, but I wonder you dare speak as you do." Her face grew hard as stone. "I am never afraid to speak," she said, haughtily, "or to act. I have set my heart on a marriage between Ruth and Geoffrey Heron. Webster--as you call him--must go." "He shall go," assented Mr. Cass and, satisfied that all was well, his sister left him. Then he dropped back into his chair with a sigh and gazed a again into the fire. He foresaw trouble, which there appeared no means of averting. It was three o'clock before he got to bed. And by that time he had determined how to act. "Webster shall refuse to marry her," he said, "and he shall go away. She will soon forget him, and end by becoming Mrs. Heron. With Webster away all will be well."