"WOLF!" It was a case of between two stools, and Clifford Marsh did not like the bump.

From that dinner with Elgar he came home hilariously dismayed; when his hilarity had evaporated with the wine that was its cause, dismay possessed him wholly.

Miss Doran was not for him, and in the meantime he had offended Madeline beyond forgiveness.

With what countenance could he now turn to her again?
Her mother would welcome his surrender--and it was drawing on towards the day when submission even to his stepfather could no longer be postponed--but he suspected that Madeline's resolve to have done with him was strengthened by resentment of her mother's importunities.

To be sure, it was some sort of consolation to know that if indeed he went his way for good, bitterness and regrets would be the result to the Denyer family, who had no great facility in making alliances of this kind; in a few years time, Madeline would be wishing that she had not let her pride interfere with a chance of marriage.