His mother, Howat gladly felt, would give him the sympathy of
a wise, broad understanding. David and Caroline would interpose no
serious objection. Felix Winscombe remained; a virile figure in spite of
his years; a man of assured position and a bitter will.
He determined to speak on the day that Felix Winscombe returned from
Annapolis; there would be no concealment of what had occurred, and no
hypocrisy. A decent regret at Winscombe's supreme loss. The other would
not relinquish Ludowika without a struggle. Who would? It was
conceivable that he would summon the assistance of the law, conceivable
but not probable; the situation had its centre in a purely personal
pride. Nothing essential could be won legally. A physical encounter was
far more likely. Howat thought of that coldly. He had no chivalrous
instinct to offer himself as a sop to conventional honour. In any
struggle, exchange of shots, he intended to be victorious.... He would
have the naming of the conditions.
"It's beautiful here," Ludowika broke into his speculations; "the great
forests and Myrtle Forge. I can almost picture myself directing servants
like your mother, getting supplies out of the store, and watching the
charcoal and iron brought down to the Forge.
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