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Rh saw and heard; and he spoke to Granville on the subject afterwards, and with some severity. But Gran's defence was convincing enough.

'Upon my honour, sir,' he protested, 'I had no kind of idea what was coming.'

'Well,' said the Judge, grimly, 'I hope everybody did not take it in. Her own father, too! Apart from the offensiveness of the revelation, there was a filial disrespect in it which, to me, was the worst part of it all.'

Granville looked at his father humorously through his eyeglass.

'I fear, sir, she is like our noble Profession—no Respecter of Persons!'

But the Judge saw nothing to smile at. 'It is nothing to joke about, my boy,' he observed. 'It has provoked me more than I can say. It is enough to frighten one out of asking people to the house. It forces me to do what I am very unwilling to do: I shall speak seriously to Alfred before we go to bed.'