Ella laughed heartily at the old gentleman's genuine tone of grievance. The next moment she blushed crimson at the sound of a well-known step, and Conroy entered the room.
He stood transfixed with surprise, the door-handle in his hand, as he gazed at the stranger. Mr. Denison rose and gazed back again.
"Sir!" exclaimed Conroy. "What brings you here?"
"I think I may ask what brings _you_ here?" retorted the old gentleman, while Ella looked on in wonder. "Have you no welcome for me?"
Conroy advanced and put his hands into Mr. Denison's, his face lighting up with smiles. Ella turned to her lover.
"Well, he ought to: he is my own son," interposed Mr. Denison before the other could speak. "A graceless, ne'er-do-well young fellow! always giving me surprises."
Ella Winter stood bewildered. She thought a farce was being played for her benefit.
"This is the--the gentleman I told you of, sir," she said to Mr. Denison. "His name is Conroy."
"Indeed, my dear, it is not. His name is Denison."
"Dear father, it is Conroy; you forget," said the young man with a laugh. "Ella," turning to her, "my name is Francis Edward Conroy Denison, as the church register of my baptism will testify."
"Just you tell me the meaning of this, Master Frank. It seems that you do know your young kinswoman, here."
"Yes, father, and it is to her that I am engaged; she has promised to be my wife."
"Bless my heart!" was all that Mr. Denison could ejaculate. "Conroy? Well, yes, I ought to have remembered that was the name you went by when you chose to go gallivanting about the world as a newspaper correspondent.--My dear, you are looking bewildered--and no wonder."
"My father brought me up to no profession," he began. "He thought that as he was a rich man there was no necessity for me to learn to work. With all deference to him I chose to think otherwise. Idleness was distasteful to me. Like Ulysses, I could not bear 'to rest unburnished, not to shine in use.' I wanted to taste the sweet pride of earning my bread by the labour of my own hands. I dropped my family name, and went out into the world; with what result you know."
"You made no such mighty splash after all," grunted Mr. Denison.
"I contrived to be of some use, sir, which was the end I had in view. And I have seen the world, and gained experience. I shall be none the worse for it in the long-run, father."