“It is every business of mine, Mr. Cossey, because if Miss de la Molle is forced into this marriage, I shall lose my wife.”

“Then you will certainly lose her.  Do you suppose that I am going to consider you?  Indeed,” he went on, being now in a towering passion, “I should have thought that considering the difference of age and fortune between us, you might find other reasons than you suggest to account for my being preferred, if I should be so preferred.  Ladies are apt to choose the better man, you know.”

“I don’t quite know what you mean by the ‘better man,’ Mr. Cossey,” said the Colonel quietly.  “Comparisons are odious, and I will make none, though I admit that you have the advantage of me in money and in years.  However, that is not the point; the point is that I have had the fortune to be preferred to you by the lady in question, and not you to me.  I happen to know that the idea of her marriage with you is as distasteful to Miss de la Molle as it is to me.  This I know from her own lips.  She will only marry you, if she does so at all, under the pressure of direst necessity, and to save her father from the ruin you are deliberately bringing upon him.”

“Well, Colonel Quaritch,” he answered, “have you quite done lecturing me?  If you have, let me tell you, as you seem anxious to know my mind, that if by any legal means I can marry Ida de la Molle I certainly intend to marry her.  And let me tell you another thing, that when once I am married it will be the last that you shall see of her, if I can prevent it.”

“Thank you for your admissions,” said Harold, still more quietly.  “So it seems that it is all true; it seems that you are using your wealth to harass this unfortunate gentleman and his daughter until you drive them into consenting to this marriage.  That being so, I wish to tell you privately what I shall probably take some opportunity of telling you in public, namely, that a man who does these things is a cur, and worse than a cur, he is a blackguard, and you are such a man, Mr. Cossey.”

Edward Cossey’s face turned perfectly livid with fury, and he drew himself up as though to spring at his adversary’s throat.

The Colonel held up his hand.  “Don’t try that on with me,” he said.  “In the first place it is vulgar, and in the second you have only just recovered from an accident and are no match for me, though I am over forty years old.  Listen, our fathers had a way of settling their troubles; I don’t approve of that sort of thing as a rule, but in some cases it is salutary.  If you think yourself aggrieved it does not take long to cross the water, Mr. Cossey.”

Edward Cossey looked puzzled.  “Do you mean to suggest that I should fight a duel with you?” he said.

“To challenge a man to fight a duel,” answered the Colonel with deliberation, “is an indictable offence, therefore I make no such challenge.  I have made a suggestion, and if that suggestion falls in with your views as,” and he bowed, “I hope it may, we might perhaps meet accidentally abroad in a few days’ time, when we could talk this matter over further.”