Part 39 (2/2)
”Do you suggest that I should urge her to marry you?” Mowbray asked with some asperity.
Brand hesitated. He knew that he was doing an unchivalrous thing, but the pa.s.sion he hitherto had kept in check mastered him.
”Well,” he said, ”I suppose that is what I really meant.”
Mowbray looked at him in haughty surprise.
”You know I cannot refuse you; but I hardly expected you to take this line. It might have been better if you had relied upon my grat.i.tude and my daughter's recognition of the service you have done us. We are not in the habit of forgetting our debts.”
”The trouble is that I cannot afford to take a risk; there is some danger of Beatrice's becoming estranged from me. I would not press you if I saw any strong reason why she should not be happy as my wife, but I know of none, and I feel that this is my last chance.”
”Then you mean to insist upon your claim?”
”Very reluctantly, sir.”
Mowbray was silent for a moment or two, and then he looked up with a strained expression.
”You place me in a helpless position. You make me and my family your debtors, and then----” He broke off abruptly. ”Did you mean to hint there was some particular danger of my daughter's becoming estranged from you?”
”Since you force me to be candid, I believe she is attracted by another man; perhaps I ought to say interested in him. I cannot suspect any attachment yet; but I am afraid.”
”Who is he?”
Brand hesitated a moment before answering.
”I cannot give you his name, because I may be mistaken. Still, he is a man you would strongly disapprove of.”
There was suspicion in Mowbray's eyes and his face hardened.
”What you hint at surprises me, Brand; but I cannot compliment you upon your conduct to-night. However, as Beatrice is the most interested person, it is, I think, only right that she should be allowed to speak.”
He rang, and the servant who promptly answered was sent for Beatrice.
When the door opened a few moments afterward, Mowbray was surprised to see not his daughter but the maid.
”Miss Mowbray is ill,” she announced, ”and begs you to excuse her.”
The maid withdrew, and Mowbray frowned.
”When must my daughter pay this debt?” he asked.
”When is the forged note due?”
”I understand that the Winnipeg fellow will bring it to me here on Friday night.”
”Then there are two days yet. I will leave Miss Mowbray free until Friday night. In the meantime I shall expect you to use your influence with her.” He hesitated a moment, feeling that he might not be taking the right line. ”I must urge you again, sir, to consider,” he finished, ”that it will be only for your daughter's good, in every way, to marry me.”
When he left, Mowbray sat motionless in his chair for a long while, looking out over the prairie but seeing nothing in front of him. Then with an effort he roused himself. After all, he tried to believe, it would not be so bad for the girl. She was young; she might yet learn to love Brand, even though she married him under compulsion. As for Harding---- Mowbray dismissed the thought. He had no fear that his daughter would so far forget her station: the pride of caste had been drilled into her too strongly.
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