"
"You will tell me about that afterwards," said Arctura, and went up
the stair.
That night the earl had another of his wandering fits; also all
night the wind blew from the south-east.
In the morning Arctura went to him with her proposal. The instant he
understood what she wished, his countenance grew black as thunder.
"What!" he cried, "you would go pulling the grand old bulk to pieces
for the sake of a foolish tale about the devil and a set of
cardplayers! By my soul, I'll be damned if you do!--Not while I'm
above ground at least! That's what comes of putting such a place in
the power of a woman! It's sacrilege! By heaven, I'll throw my
brother's will into chancery rather!"
His rage was such as to compel her to think there must be more in it
than appeared. The wilderness of the temper she had roused made her
tremble, but it also woke the spirit of her race, and she repented
of the courtesy she had shown him: she had the right to make what
investigations she pleased! Her father would not have left her the
property without good reasons for doing so; and of those reasons
some might well have lain in the character of the man before her!
Through all this rage the earl read something of what had sent the
blood of the Graemes to her cheek and brow.
"I beg your pardon, my love," he said, "but if he was your father,
he was my brother!"
"He is my father!" said Arctura coldly.
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