He and the squire never did come together without quarrelling, and careless as was the young man in every other respect, he had hitherto been obdurate as to his own rights in any dealings which he had with his father.

At the end of the half-hour Mr Longestaffe returned to the drawing-room, and at once pronounced the doom of the family.

'My dear,' he said, 'we shall not return from Caversham to London this year.' He struggled hard to maintain a grand dignified tranquillity as he spoke, but his voice quivered with emotion.
'Papa!' screamed Sophia.
'My dear, you don't mean it,' said Lady Pomona.
'Of course papa doesn't mean it,' said Georgiana, rising to her feet.
'I mean it accurately and certainly,' said Mr Longestaffe.

'We go to Caversham in about ten days, and we shall not return from Caversham to London this year.' 'Our ball is fixed,' said Lady Pomona.
'Then it must be unfixed.' So saying, the master of the house left the drawing-room and descended to his study.
The three ladies, when left to deplore their fate, expressed their opinions as to the sentence which had been pronounced very strongly.
But the daughters were louder in their anger than was their mother.
'He can't really mean it,' said Sophia.
'He does,' said Lady Pomona, with tears in her eyes.
'He must unmean it again;--that's all,' said Georgiana.

'Dolly has said something to him very rough, and he resents it upon us.