Guy lost notime in seeking his father, and laying the matter before him, inveighing against Hector with great bitterness.

“So he knocked you down, did he, Guy?” asked Allan Roscoe, thoughtfully.

“Yes; he took me unawares, or he couldn’t have done it,” answered Guy, a little ashamed at the avowal.

“What did you do?”

“I—­I told him he should suffer for it.”

“Why did he attack you?”

“It was on account of something I said.”

“What was it?”

Guy reluctantly answered this question, and with correctness.

“It was your fault for speaking to him wrhen he was feeling sore at making a painful discovery.”

“Do you justify him in pitching into me like a big brute?” asked Guy, hastily.

“No; but still, I think it, was natural, under the circumstances.  You should have kept out of his way, and let him alone.”

“Won’t you punish him for attacking me?” demanded Guy, indignantly.

“I will speak to him on the subject,” said Allan Roscoe; “and will tell him my opinion of his act.”

“Then shan’t I be revenged upon him?” asked Guy, disappointed.

“Listen, Guy,” said his father.  “Is it no punishment that the boy is stripped of all his possessions, while you step into his place?  Henceforth he will be dependent upon me, and later, upon you.  He has been hurled down from his proud place as owner of Castle Roscoe, and I have taken his place, as you will hereafter do.”

“Yes,” said Guy, gleefully; “it will be a proud day when I become master of the estate.”

Allan Roscoe was not a specially sensitive man, but this remark of his son jarred upon him.

“You seem to forget, Guy, that you do not succeed till I am dead!”

“Yes, I suppose so,” answered Guy, slowly.

“It almost seems as if you were in a hurry for me to die.”

“I didn’t mean that, but it’s natural to suppose that I shall live longer than you do, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” returned Allan Roscoe, shortly.

“Of course that’s what I mean.”

“Then, since you are so much better off than Hector, you had better be more considerate, and leave him to get over his disappointment as well as he can.”

“Shall I send in Hector to see you?” asked Guy, as he at length turned to leave the room.

“Yes.”

“You’re to go in to my father,” said Guy, reappearing on the lawn; “he’s going to give it to you.”

Hector anticipated some such summons, and he had remained in the same spot, too proud to have it supposed that he shrank from the interview.

With a firm, resolute step, he entered the presence of Allan Roscoe.

“I hear you wish to see me, Mr. Roscoe,” he said, manfully.

“Yes, Hector; Guy has come to me with complaints of you.”

“If he says I knocked him down for insulting me, he has told you the truth,” said Hector, sturdily.