should imagine that there is even the smallest chance of your succeeding,
is an insult for which, were I a man, you should pay dearly."

"On the contrary, dear Margaret," he replied, in his most silken tones,
plainly shifting to more favourable ground, "I fancy that the chance is by
no means small."

"Your fancy does not interest me," was the cold reply.

"Every woman has her price, if I may adapt a phrase of the late Sir
Robert's, and I can pay yours. Excuse my frankness, Margaret. It would be
unpardonable if we were not alone. Yon cattle-drover hardly counts as
audience, I fancy, for he is already as good as strung up as a rebel."

After a long silence, so long that I tried to find an explanation of it,
she said, "You refer to my father?" There was a quaver in her voice which
all her bravery could not suppress.

"Exactly, Margaret, to your dear father."

"In times like this, no doubt, your conduct in arresting him will pass
for legal, but fortunately some evidence will be required, and you have
none. The fact is that in your loyal zeal you have acted too soon."

"I thought your daughterly instincts would be aroused," he answered,
scoffing openly as he saw his advantage. "They have lain dormant longer
than I expected. Believe me, Margaret, for my own purposes I have acted in
the very nick of time, and you will do well to drop your unfounded hopes
of the future. Your father's fate is certain if I act, for I can call a
witness--you remember Major Tixall, a beery but insinuating person--whose