“Sacrifice for sacrifice, mine was the greater of the two.  Like her, I have lost my friends and my position here—­to some extent, at least.  Worse, I have let my youth slip by in fruitless pursuit of her.  For the home which she hated, I offered her one ten times more splendid.  I gave her the devotion of a gentleman to replace the indifference of a blacksmith.  What have I not done for her?  I freed her from her bondage; I carried her across the globe; I watched her, housed her, fed her, clothed her as a princess.  I loved her with a love that taught her a meaning of the word she had never known before.  And when I had served her turn—­when I had rescued her from her husband and placed her beyond his reach—­when she became surfeited with a wealth of chivalrous love which she could not comprehend, and when a new world opened before her a fresh field for intrigue, I was assailed with slanderous lies, and forsaken.  Do you think, Mr. Lind, that in addition to this, I will endure the reproaches of any man—­even were he my own father?”

“But she suffers more, being a woman.  The world will be comparatively lenient toward you.  If you and she were married and settled, with no consciousness of being in a false position, and no wearing fear of detection, you would get on together quite differently.”

“It may be so, but I shall never put it to the test.”

“Listen a moment, Sholto.  Just consider the matter calmly and rationally.  I am a rich man—­at least, I can endow Marian better than you perhaps think.  I see that you feel aggrieved, and that you fear being forced into a marriage which you have, as you say—­I fully admit it, most fully—­a perfect right to decline.  But I am urging you to make Marian your legal wife solely because it is the best course for both of you.  That, I assure you, is the feeling of society in the matter.  Everybody speaks to me of your becoming my son-in-law.  The Earl says no other course is possible.  I will give you ten thousand pounds down on her wedding-day.  You will lose nothing:  Conolly will not claim damages.  He has contradicted the report that he would.  I will pay the costs of the divorce as well.  Mind!  I do not mean that I will settle the money on her.  I will give it to her unconditionally.  In other words, it will become your property the moment you become her husband.”

“I understand,” said Douglas contemptuously.  “However, as it is merely a question of making your daughter an honest woman in consideration of so much cash, I have no doubt you will find plenty of poorer men who will be glad to close with you for half the money.  You are much in the city now, I believe.  Allow me to suggest that you will find a dealer there more easily than in St. James’s.”

Mr. Lind reddened again.  “I do not think you see the matter in the proper light,” he said.  “You are asked to repair the disgrace you have brought on a lady and upon her family.  I offer you a guarantee that you will not lose pecuniarily by doing so.  Whatever other loss you may incur, you are bound to bear it as the penalty of your own act.  I appeal to you, sir, as one gentleman appeals to another, to remove the dishonor you have brought upon my name.”