The Crowned Skull | Page 6

going to commit herself by asking questions until she knew how the land lay. Bowring, as she intuitively saw, was a man to be delicately handled.
'You seem to be a girl with a head on your shoulders.'
'Thank you for the compliment. But why pay it to me?'
'I have heard of the way in which you manage this house, and your father, who is, and always was, a simple man.'
'How do you know?'
'Because he was with me out in Africa years and years ago, when you were a tiny girl. He came home about the time your mother died, and came home, too, without a penny. Now I,' the millionaire expanded his chest in a grandiloquent fashion, 'I have made my fortune! I am worth a great deal of money.'
'So I understand,' said Dericka coldly; 'but what has all this to do with me?'
'I am coming to that. It has a great deal to do with you. I rented the Grange from your father, not because I wanted it, but so as to help him. I pay a fancy rent, upon which he lives.'
'You have no right to talk to me like this,' said Dericka, reddening. 'After all, my father is my father, and your old association in South Africa does not give you the right to insult him.'
The millionaire was immovable.
'You are a girl of spirit,' he said approvingly. 'I like you none the worse for it.'
'With your permission,' said Dericka, rising, and speaking sarcastically, 'I will join our visitors and attend to my duties.'
'Join that young popinjay there,' said Bowring, nodding his head in the direction of Forde. 'I see well what it means.'
'Sir!' Dericka looked angry, and really felt angry. 'My private affairs have nothing to do with you.'
'They have a great deal to do with me, as your father and I agreed.'
'What do you mean?'
'Let me reply by asking another question, my dear. When Miss Warry told your fortune did she say who was to be your husband?'
'I refuse to answer that question,' said Dericka with spirit; but all the same she did answer it by looking again at Forde.
'No,' said Bowring, looking also; 'he is not to be your husband.'
'I chose for myself, Mr. Bowring.'
'What a little spitfire you are. Listen. I want to help your father as he is my old friend and is poor.'
'I never knew that my father and you were friends.'
'We have both been very thick, certainly,' said Bowring grimly. 'He has kept away from me, and I from him. But to-day, I came over to make it up. We have done so, although it was not an easy task. Your father so far forgot himself as to threaten me with death.'
'Ridiculous!'
'So I told him,' said Bowring quietly; 'but for reasons connected with South Africa he would not be sorry to see me in my coffin. However, I managed to make him understand that his interest and mine are identical, and proposed a new arrangement.' He paused.
'Yes?' said Dericka, interrogatively.
'I intend to pay your father a larger rent and help him out of his present difficulties, of which you are cognisant, if you--you, Miss Trevick--will marry my son Morgan.'
Dericka rose with a bewildered air.
'Marry your son--that idiot?'
'He is not quite an idiot,' said Bowring in vexed tones, 'although his will is weak. All the better for a woman of your managing capability, my dear. Morgan wants a woman who can handle him firmly, and from what I have heard of you, Miss Trevick, you are the woman who would make Morgan a good wife. Also, you are a girl of old family, and the daughter of a baronet. Against these advantages I set my money. If you will marry Morgan and turn him into something resembling a man, I will give you your old family seat of the Grange, and allow you and your husband ten thousand a year. When I die you will get the lot of my money. Also, I will put your father's affairs right.'
'Are you serious?' demanded the girl, with a red spot on either cheek.
'Perfectly. I never waste words.'
'Neither do I. Wait!'
She walked away, leaving Bowring wondering what she was about to do, and speedily returned with Oswald Forde.
'I have asked this gentleman to come,' said Dericka coldly, 'so that he and you may hear my answer. Oswald, Mr. Bowring and my father have decided that I shall marry Morgan, the son of this man.'
'Dericka, you will not, when I--'
'When you love me,' she finished, and placing her arms round his neck she kissed him fondly. Then, turning to Bowring, who looked on grimly at this comedy, she said promptly, 'Do you require any further answer?'
'What does all this mean?' asked Forde in angry tones.
'It means that Mr. Bowring wanted to buy me and that I am