“Father,” said Charles, “in this matter will you be guided by me?  If Alice herself is a consenting party to the match, you have, in my opinion, no right to interfere, at least with her affections.  If she marries him without stress or compulsion, she does it deliberately, and she shapes her own course and her own fate.  In the meantime I advise you to hold back for the present, and wait until her own sentiments are distinctly understood.  That can be effected by a private interview with yourself, which you can easily obtain.  Let us not be severe on Harry.  I rather think he is pressed forward in the matter by my mother, for the sake of the property If his uncle has discarded him, it is not, surely, unreasonable that a young man like him, without a profession or any fixed purpose in life, should wish to secure a wife—­and such a wife—­who will bring back to him the very property which was originally destined for himself in the first instance.  Wait, then, at all events, until Alice’s conduct in the matter is known.  If there be unjustifiable force and pressure upon her, act; if not, I think, sir, that, with every respect, your interference would be an unjustifiable intrusion.”

“Very well, Charley; I believe you are right; I will be guided by you for the present; I won’t interfere; but in the meantime I shall have an eye to their proceedings.  I don’t think the Goodwins at all mercenary or selfish, but it is quite possible that they may look upon Harry as the heir of his uncle’s wealth; and, after all, Charley, nature is nature; that may influence them even unconsciously, and yet I am not in a condition to undeceive them.”

“Father,” said Charles, “all I would suggest is, as I said before, a little patience for the present; wait a while until we learn how Alice herself will act.  I am sorry to say that I perceived what I believe to be an equivocation on the part of my mother in her allusion to Alice.  I think it will be found by and by that her personal consent has not been given; and, what is more, that she was not present at all during their conversation on the subject.  If she was, however, and became a consenting party to the proposal, then I say now, as I said before, you have no right to interfere in the business.”

“What keeps him out so late at night?  I mean occasionally.  He is out two or three nights every week until twelve or one o’clock.  Now, you know, in the present state of the country, that it is not safe. Shawn-na-Middogue and such scoundrels are abroad, and they might put a bullet through him some night or other.

“He is not at all afraid on that score,” replied Charles; “he never goes out in the evening without a case of pistols freshly loaded.”

“Well, but it, is wrong to subject himself to danger.  Where is he gone now?”

“He and Barney Casey have gone out to course; I think they went up towards the mountains.”