Yes, society would rave over her wealth and her beauty; and, by and by--if she used him well--perhaps it might be discovered that the unknown waif had descended from rich and high-born parents. Yes, this was just possible, if Nita should be kind to him. If she were not, if she were not--and he ground his teeth--woe to the heiress, her fate be on her own head. Just then there came a swift and loud rat-tat upon his door. Visitors to Miser Farnham were things unknown. He started up, trembling. Again there sounded a loud, impatient knock. He advanced with faltering steps and threw open the door. Before him stood two men. He had seen them both before, and as they stepped over the threshold of the room he confronted them with a snarl of hate. "I know you both, Captain Van Hise and Mr. Mountcastle. What is your business with me?" he queried curtly. Van Hise laughed sarcastically at this cool reception. "Mr. Farnham, you certainly come to the point at once," he exclaimed airily, "so we will not delay what we came for. You know this gentleman, of course, as the husband of your lovely ward, Miss Farnham?" He nodded at Dorian, and the old miser scowled. "I have heard of the gentleman," he said angrily. "Very well. Mr. Farnham, we have come here to ask if you have any objection to him as your ward's husband." Dorian, with his hat in his hand, stepped in front of the old man, and gazed earnestly into his face. What a contrast they presented, these two, Dorian in his fair beauty, and the grotesquely ugly, snarling old miser. Van Hise's courteous question shook the old man with jealous rage, and he asked sullenly: "What can my objections matter since he is already her husband? If the bond is a legal one, I have no power to break it." Then Dorian spoke. "We know that," he said in a troubled voice, yet with a frank, manly, half-appealing air. "Yet, strange to say, sir, my bride stands in such mysterious fear of your displeasure that she refuses to live with me--throws me off as if I had no claim on her loyalty." "You have seen Nita? When?" queried Farnham, with a grin. "In London, barely a week ago--our first interview since our marriage-night--and I sailed the next day to see you." "To see me! Why? If she repudiates the marriage, what can I do?" insolently. "You can remove the mysterious barrier you have placed between my darling's heart and mine. She loves me, but she fears you with a strange, unreasoning terror. She has told me that only for the report of your death she would not have married me at all. My God, sir! what is the secret of your malign power over the hapless girl?" demanded the unhappy young husband stormily. Farnham glared back at him with a savage fury, as though he would be glad to rend him limb from limb. He put his clenched hands behind him, as though to restrain the wild beast in him. "So you acknowledge my power over your bride? You would like to know the secret of it?" he hissed in a voice of exultant malice.