“Therefore I call him an idiot in preference to calling him a knave.  But I am not going to be dropped out of the running in that way, just in deference to his will.  I shall see him.  Unless they lock him up in his bedroom I shall compel him to see me.”

“What good would that do, Harry?  That would only set him more against you.”

“You don’t know his weakness.”

“Oh yes, I do; he is very weak.”

“He will not see me, because he will have to yield when he hears what I have to say for myself.  He knows that, and would therefore fain keep away from me.  Why should he be stirred to this animosity against me?”

“Why indeed?”

“Because there is some one who wishes to injure me more strong than he is, and who has got hold of him.  Some one has lied behind my back.”

“Who has done this?”

“Ah, that is the question.  But I know who has done it, though I will not name him just now.  This enemy of mine, knowing him to be weak,—­knowing him to be an idiot, has got hold of him and persuaded him.  He believes the story which is told to him, and then feels happy in shaking off an incubus.  No doubt I have not been very soft with him,—­nor, indeed, hard.  I have kept out of his way, and he is willing to resent it; but he is afraid to face me and tell me that it is so.  Here are the girls come back from Buntingford.  Molly, you blooming young bride, I wish you joy of your brewer.”

“He’s none the worse on that account, Master Harry,” said the eldest sister.

“All the better,—­very much the better.  Where would you be if he was not a brewer?  But I congratulate you with all my heart, old girl.  I have known him ever so long, and he is one of the best fellows I do know.”

“Thank you, Harry,” and she kissed him.

“I wish Fanny and Kate may even do so well.”

“All in good time,” said Fanny.

“I mean to have a banker—­all to myself,” said Kate.

“I wish you may have half as good a man for your husband,” said Harry.

“And I am to tell you,” continued Molly, who was now in high good-humor, “that there will be always one of his horses for you to ride as long as you remain at home.  It is not every brother-in-law that would do as much as that for you.”

“Nor yet every uncle,” said Kate, shaking her head, from which Harry could see that this quarrel with his uncle had been freely discussed in the family circle.

“Uncles are very different,” said the mother; “uncles can’t be expected to do everything as though they were in love.”

“Fancy Uncle Peter in love!” said Kate.  Mr. Prosper was called Uncle Peter by the girls, though always in a sort of joke.  Then the other two girls shook their heads very gravely, from which Harry learned that the question respecting the choice of Miss Matilda Thoroughbung as a mistress for the Hall had been discussed also before them.