“Well,” said the Squire, “this is all new to me.”

“Yes,” she answered, “and I should never have told you of it had it not been for this sudden change in the position of affairs.  What I did, I did to save our family from ruin.  But now it seems that Mr. Cossey has played us false, and that we are to be ruined after all.  Therefore, the condition upon which I promised to marry him has not been carried out, and my promise falls to the ground.”

“You mean that supposing he lives, you will not marry Edward Cossey.”

“Yes, I do mean it.”

The Squire thought for a minute.  “This is a very serious step, Ida,” he said.  “I don’t mean that I think that the man has behaved well—­but still he may have given up the mortgages to Quest under pressure of some sort and might be willing to find the money to meet them.”

“I do not care if he finds the money ten times over,” said Ida, “I will not marry him.  He has not kept to the letter of his bond and I will not keep to mine.”

“It is all very well, Ida,” said the Squire, “and of course nobody can force you into a distasteful marriage, but I wish to point out one thing.  You have your family to think of as well as yourself.  I tell you frankly that I do not believe that as times are it will be possible to raise thirty thousand pounds to pay off the charges unless it is by the help of Edward Cossey.  So if he lives—­and as he has lasted so long I expect that he will live—­and you refuse to go on with your engagement to him we shall be sold up, that is all; for this man Quest, confound him, will show us no mercy.”

“I know it, father,” answered Ida, “but I cannot and will not marry him, and I do not think you can expect me to do so.  I became engaged, or rather promised to become engaged to him, because I thought that one woman had no right to put her own happiness before the welfare of an old family like ours, and I would have carried out that engagement at any cost.  But since then, to tell you the truth,” and she blushed deeply, “not only have I learned to dislike him a great deal more, but I have come to care for some one else who also cares for me, and who therefore has a right to be considered.  Think, father, what it means to a woman to sell herself into bodily and mental bondage—­when she cares for another man.”

“Well, well,” said her father with some irritation, “I am no authority upon matters of sentiment; they are not in my line and I know that women have their prejudices.  Still you can’t expect me to look at the matter in quite the same light as you do.  And who is the gentleman?  Colonel Quaritch?”

She nodded her head.

“Oh,” said the Squire, “I have nothing to say against Quaritch, indeed I like the man, but I suppose that if he has 600 pounds a year, it is every sixpence he can count on.”

“I had rather marry him upon six hundred a year than Edward Cossey upon sixty thousand.”