“And I understand you to say,” he went on in a pitiless voice, “Miss Barton’s state of health is such that you think it advisable to remove her at once—­for her confinement, to Italy?”

“Exactly so,” Alan answered, gulping down his discomfort.

The father gazed at him long and steadily.

“Well, I always knew you were a fool,” he said at last with paternal candor; “but I never yet knew you were quite such a fool as this business shows you.  You’ll have to marry the girl now in the end.  Why the devil couldn’t you marry her outright at first, instead of seducing her?”

“I did not seduce her,” Alan answered stoutly.  “No man on earth could ever succeed in seducing that stainless woman.”

Dr. Merrick stared hard at him without changing his attitude on his old oak chair.  Was the boy going mad, or what the dickens did he mean by it?

“You have seduced her,” he said slowly.  “And she is not stainless if she has allowed you to do so.”

“It is the innocence which survives experience that I value, not the innocence which dies with it,” Alan answered gravely.

“I don’t understand these delicate distinctions,” Dr. Merrick interposed with a polite sneer.  “I gather from what you said just now that the lady is shortly expecting her confinement; and as she isn’t married, you tell me, I naturally infer that somebody must have seduced her—­either you, or some other man.”

It was Alan’s turn now to draw himself up very stiffly.

“I beg your pardon,” he answered; “you have no right to speak in such a tone about a lady in Miss Barton’s position.  Miss Barton has conscientious scruples about the marriage-tie, which in theory I share with her; she was unwilling to enter into any relations with me except in terms of perfect freedom.”

“I see,” the old man went on with provoking calmness.  “She preferred, in fact, to be, not your wife, but your mistress.”

Alan rose indignantly.  “Father,” he said, with just wrath, “if you insist upon discussing this matter with me in such a spirit, I must refuse to stay here.  I came to tell you the difficulty in which I find myself, and to explain to you my position.  If you won’t let me tell you in my own way, I must leave the house without having laid the facts before you.”

The father spread his two palms in front of him with demonstrative openness.  “As you will,” he answered. “my time is much engaged.  I expect a patient at a quarter past ten.  You must be brief, please.”

Alan made one more effort.  In a very earnest voice, he began to expound to his father Herminia’s point of view.  Dr. Merrick listened for a second or two in calm impatience.  Then he consulted his watch.  “Excuse me,” he said.  “I have just three minutes.  Let us get at once to the practical part—­the therapeutics of the case, omitting its aetiology:  You’re going to take the young lady to Italy.  When she gets there, will she marry you?  And do you expect me to help in providing for you both after this insane adventure?”