Walter looked queer.  This was a turn he had not counted on.

“Do you think I couldn’t, sir?” said she, sharply.

“It is not for me to limit the power of beauty,” said Walter, meekly.

“Say the power of flattery.  I could cajole any man in the world—­if I chose.”

“Then you are a dangerous creature, and I will make Fitzroy my shield.  I’m off to the Dun Cow.”

“You are a duck,” said this impetuous beauty.  “So there!” She took him round the neck with both hands, and gave him a most delicious kiss.

“Why, he must be mad,” replied the recipient, bluntly.  She laughed at that, and he went straight to the Dun Cow.  He found young Fitzroy sitting rather disconsolate, and opened his errand at once by asking him if it was true that they were to lose him.

Percy replied stiffly that it was true.

“What a pity!” said Walter.

“I d—­don’t think I shall be m—­much m—­missed,” said Percy, rather sullenly.

“I know two people who will miss you.”

“I d—­don’t know one.”

“Two, I assure you—­Miss Clifford and myself.  Come, Mr. Fitzroy, I will not beat about the bush.  I am afraid you are mortified, and I must say, justly mortified, at the coolness my father has shown to you.  But I assure you that it is not from any disrespect to you personally.”

“Oh, indeed!” said Percy, ironically.

“No; quite the reverse—­he is afraid of you.”

“That is a g—­g—­good joke.”

“No; let me explain.  Fathers are curious people.  If they are ever so disinterested in their general conduct, they are sure to be a little mercenary for their children.  Now you know Miss Clifford is a beauty who would adorn Clifford Hall, and an heiress whose money would purchase certain properties that join ours.  You understand?”

“Yes,” said the little man, starting up in great wrath.  “I understand, and it’s a—­bom—­inable.  I th—­thought you were my friend, and a m—­man of h—­honor.”

“So I am, and that is why I warn you in time.  If you quarrel with Miss Clifford, and leave this place in a pet, just see what risks we both run, you and I. My father will be always at me, and I shall not be able to insist on your prior claim; he will say you have abandoned it.  Julia will take the huff, and you know beautiful women will do strange things—­mad things—­when once pique enters their hearts.  She might turn round and marry me.”

“You forget, sir, you are a man of honor.”

“But not a man of stone.  Now, my dear Fitzroy, be reasonable.  Suppose that peerless creature went in for female revenge; why, the first thing she would do would be to make me love her, whether I chose or no.  She wouldn’t give me a voice in the matter.  She would flatter me; she would cajole me; she would transfix my too susceptible heart with glances of fire and bewitching languor from those glorious eyes.”