‘Were it not what?’ asked Mr Glascock.

’It can be nothing to you, sir, what troubles I have here.  This is my own abode, in which I had flattered myself that I could be free from intruders.  I do not want visitors.  I am sorry that you should have had trouble in coming here, but I do not want visitors.  I am very sorry that I have nothing that I can offer you, Mr Glascock.’

‘Emily is in Florence,’ said Sir Marmaduke.

’Who brought her?  Did I tell her to come?  Let her go back to her home.  I have come here to be free from her, and I mean to be free.  If she wants my money, let her take it.’

‘She wants her child,’ said Mr Glascock.

‘He is my child,’ said Trevelyan, ’and my right to him is better than hers.  Let her try it in a court of law, and she shall see.  Why did she deceive me with that man?  Why has she driven me to this?  Look here, Mr Glascock my whole life is spent in this seclusion, and it is her fault.’

‘Your wife is innocent of all fault, Trevelyan,’ said Mr Glascock.

’Any woman can say as much as that and all women do say it.  Yet what are they worth?’

‘Do you mean, sir, to take away your wife’s character?’ said Sir Marmaduke, coming up in wrath.  ’Remember that she is my daughter, and that there are things which flesh and blood cannot stand.’

’She is my wife, sir, and that is ten times more.  Do you think that you would do more for her than I would do, drink more of Esill?  You had better go away, Sir Marmaduke.  You can do no good by coming here and talking of your daughter.  I would have given the world to save her but she would not be saved.’

‘You are a slanderer!’ said Sir Marmaduke, in his wrath.

Mr Glascock turned round to the father, and tried to quiet him.  It was so manifest to him that the balance of the poor man’s mind was gone, that it seemed to him to be ridiculous to upbraid the sufferer.  He was such a piteous sight to behold, that it was almost impossible to feel indignation against him.  ‘You cannot wonder,’ said Mr Glascock, advancing close to the master of the house, ’that the mother should want to see her only child.  You do not wish that your wife should be the most wretched woman in the world.’

’Am not I the most wretched of men?  Can anything be more wretched than this?  Is her life worse than mine?  And whose fault was it?  Had I any friend to whom she objected?  Was I untrue to her in a single thought?’

‘If you say that she was untrue, it is a falsehood,’ said Sir Marmaduke.

’You allow yourself a liberty of expression, sir, because you are my wife’s father,’ said Trevelyan, ’which you would not dare to take in other circumstances.’

’I say that it is a false calumny, a lie!  And I would say so to any man on earth who should dare to slander my child’s name.’