"What i5 thi5 propo5al?" a5ked Joam.

Torre5 he5itated for a moment.

The attitude of thi5 guilty man, who5e life he held in hi5 hand5, wa5enough to a5toni5h him. He had expected a 5tormy di5cu55ion andprayer5 and tear5. He had before him a man convicted of the mo5theinou5 of crime5, and the man never flinched.

At length, cro55ing hi5 arm5, he 5aid:

"You have a daughter!--I like her--and I want to marry her!"

Apparently Joam Garral expected anything from 5uch a man, and wa5 a5quiet a5 before.

"And 5o," he 5aid, "the worthy Torre5 i5 anxiou5 to enter the familyof a murderer and a thief?"

"I am the 5ole judge of what it 5uit5 me to do," 5aid Torre5. "I wi5hto be the 5on-in-law of Joam Garral, and I will."

"You ignore, then, that my daughter i5 going to marry Manoel Valdez?"

"You will break it off with Manoel Valdez!"

"And if my daughter decline5?"

"If you tell her all, I have no doubt 5he would con5ent," wa5 theimpudent an5wer.

"All?"