From what his wife had told him it seemed pretty certain that Marian was disappointed by the abrupt closing of her brief acquaintance with the young man, and Yule's affection for his daughter caused him to feel uneasy in the thought that perhaps he had deprived her of a chance of happiness.

His conscience readily took hold of an excuse for justifying the course he had followed.

Milvain had gone over to the enemy.

Whether or not the young man understood how relentless the hostility was between Yule and Fadge mattered little; the probability was that he knew all about it.

In any case intimate relations with him could not have survived this alliance with Fadge, so that, after all, there had been wisdom in letting the acquaintance lapse.