'I will take the first work that offers to-morrow.'

'Do so by all means - but for your own sake, not for mine.'

'I see; you think I am an idler!' Morris exclaimed, a little too much in the tone of a man who has made a discovery. But he saw his error immediately, and blushed.

'It doesn't matter what I think, when once I have told you I don't think of you as a son-in-law.'

But Morris persisted: 'You think I would squander her money?'

The Doctor smiled. 'It doesn't matter, as I say; but I plead guilty to that.'

'That's because I spent my own, I suppose,' said Morris.

'I frankly confess that. I have been wild; I have been foolish. I will tell you every crazy thing I ever did, if you like. There were some great follies among the number- I have never concealed that. But I have sown my wild-oats. Isn't there some proverb about a reformed rake? I was not a rake, but I assure you I have reformed. It is better to have amused one's self for awhile and have done with it. Your daughter would never care for a milksop; and I will take the liberty of saying that you would like one quite as little. Besides, between my money and hers there is a great difference. I spent my own; it was because it was my own that I spent it. And I made no debts; when it was gone I stopped. I don't owe a penny in the world.'

'Allow me to inquire what you are living on now - though I admit,' the Doctor added, 'that the question, on my part, is inconsistent.'

'I am living on the remnants of my property,' said Morris Townsend.

'Thank you,' the Doctor gravely replied. Yes, certainly, Morris's self-control was laudable. 'Even admitting I attach an undue importance to Miss Sloper's fortune,' he went on, 'would not that be in itself an assurance that I would take good care of it?'

'That you should take too much care would be quite as bad as that you should take too little. Catherine might suffer as much by your economy as by your extravagance.'

'I think you are very unjust!' The young man made this declaration decently, civilly, without violence.

'It is your privilege to think so, and I surrender my reputation to you! I certainly don't flatter myself, I gratify you.'

'Don't you care a little to gratify your daughter? Do you enjoy the idea of making her miserable?'

'I am perfectly resigned to her thinking me a tyrant for a twelve- month.'

'For a twelvemonth!' exclaimed Morris, with a laugh.

'For a lifetime, then. She may as well be miserable in that way as in the other.'

Here at last Morris lost his temper. ' Ah, you are not polite, sir!' he cried.

'You push me to it - you argue too much.'

'I have a great deal at stake.'

'Well, whatever it is,' said the Doctor, 'you have lost it.'