‘Do you mean that he volunteered that as a threat?’

’Just so;—­and he told me that he had come here simply with the object of saying so.  It was more candid than civil, but we must take it as we get it.’

‘He would be sure to make some such threat.’

’Exactly.  That is just what I feel.  And in these days young people are often kept from marrying simply by a father’s fantasy.  But I must tell you something else.  He told me that if Felix would desist, he would enable him to make a fortune in the city.’

‘That’s bosh,’ said Broune with decision.

‘Do you think it must be so;—­certainly?’

’Yes, I do.  Such an undertaking...