"I saw that," Dashwood said hoarsely, "my heart was in my mouth. It was very good of you to remember an old pal who----" "Old pal be hanged," Mayfield cried. "I'd have betrayed you fast enough had it been to my interest to do so. I saw my game like a flash. They are going to let you into the thing without a fight. But not for very long, my boy, so you had better make the most of your time. As Sir Vincent Dashwood you are all right, you can play ducks and drakes with the estate if you please; in fact, you are going to start with a mortgage of £50,000. That sum of money you will pay over to me." "What for?" Dashwood asked uneasily. "Why should I do it?" "Call it what you like. Call it blackmail. But I'm going to have it all the same." CHAPTER XXXII. MUST THIS THING BE? Mr. George Dashwood staggered into the hall at the dower house with an exaggeration of grief that filled Mary with contempt. The dethroned head of the house seemed to have no thought for anything but himself. His eyes were filled with tears, his voice was weak and tremulous with selfish emotion. "This is dreadful," he moaned. "Really, I had expected something better at your hands, Darnley. Still, I suppose you are merely here to fulfil a promise to Ralph Dashwood. Most selfish of a man to keep in the background all these years and then spring a mine on one like this. And here am I, at my time of life, with nothing to fall back on, not even a pension, for I commuted mine when I left the Service. Still, that young fellow did not behave at all badly. Don't forget, my dear that he offered us the free use of the Hall for the present, at any rate. And he said that he was not a marrying man. Well, if you play your cards properly, Mary----" Mary turned her face away and hid her hot cheeks in a great bowl of dewy roses standing on the hall table. It was no use, she could not keep the tears back any longer. This was the crowning humiliation of an unspeakable day. For her father to deal her this blow in the presence of the one man whose respect she valued so highly was the refinement of cruelty. She rushed from the hall with choking words to the effect that she must go and tell Lady Dashwood everything. "What's the matter with the girl now?" Dashwood asked peevishly. "Not one word of sympathy has she uttered. Children have no feelings nowadays, Darnley. I suppose she was angry about the new head of the house. What better arrangement could be made? It would settle all the difficulties at once, especially now Mayfield is out of the way. I thought that our young friend put it very nicely." "Did you?" Ralph responded coldly. "I may not be a judge of these matters, but I fail to see how you could accept that invitation. Of course, a few days' residence at Dashwood to get your personal belongings together would be another matter."