"I sincerely hope Juliet does not take after her, then," said Lord Caranby, tartly.  "To be perfectly plain with you, Cuthbert, I could never understand why Mrs. Octagon sanctioned your engagement with her daughter, considering you are my nephew." 

 "I don't understand," said Mallow, staring and uneasily. 

 Caranby did not answer immediately. He rose and walked painfully up and down the room leaning heavily on his cane. Mallow offered his arm but was impatiently waved aside. When the old man sat down again he turned a serious face to his nephew.  "Do you love this girl?" 

 "With all my heart and soul." 

 "And she loves you?" 

 "Of course. We were made for one another." 

 "But Mrs. Octagon—" 

 "I don't like Mrs. Octagon—I never did," said Mallow, impetuously, "but I don't care two straws for her opposition. I shall marry Juliet in spite of this revenge she seems to be practising on you. Though why she should hope to vex you by meddling with my marriage, I cannot understand." 

 "I can put the matter in a nutshell," said Caranby, and quoted Congreve— 

         "'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned.'" 

 "Oh," said Mallow, dropping his cigarette, and a whole story was revealed to him in the quotation. 

 "A gentleman doesn't talk of these things," said Caranby abruptly, "and for years I have held my tongue. Still, as Mrs. Octagon does not hesitate to strike at me through you, and as your happiness is at stake, and the happiness of the girl you love, I shall tell you—so far as I can guess—why the woman behaves in this way." 

 "If you please, sir," and Cuthbert settled himself to listen. 

 "About twenty years ago," said Caranby, plunging headfirst into his subject, "Isabella and Selina Loach were well-known in society. They were the daughters of a country squire—Kent, I remember—and created a sensation with their beauty when they came to town. I fell in love with Selina, and Isabella—if you will pardon my vanity—fell in love with me. She hated her sister on my account. I would have married Selina, but her father, who was hard up, wished her to marry a wealthy 

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