"I'll come down again. I'll see him before he goes." And escaped up the kitchen staircase to her own room.
Paul Rushleigh came, he told Mr. Gartney, because, although Faith had not authorized him to appeal to her father to ratify any consent of hers, he thought it right to let him know what he had already said to his daughter. He did not wish to hurry Faith. He only wished to stand openly with Mr. Gartney in the matter, and would wait, then, till she should be quite ready to give him her own answer.
He explained the prospect his father offered him, and the likelihood of his making a permanent home at Kinnicutt.
"That is," he added, "if I am to be so happy as to have a home, anywhere, of my own."
Mr. Gartney was delighted with the young man's unaffected warmth of heart and noble candor.
"I could not wish better for my daughter, Mr. Rushleigh," he replied. "And she is a daughter whom I may fairly wish the best for, too."
Mr. Gartney rose. "I will send Faith," said he.
"I do not ask for her," answered Paul, a flush of feeling showing in his cheek. "I did not come, expecting it—my errand was one I owed to yourself—but Faith knows quite well how glad I shall be if she chooses to see me."
As Mr. Gartney crossed the hall from parlor to sitting room, a light step came over the front staircase.
Faith passed her father, with a downcast look, as he motioned with his hand toward the room where Paul stood, waiting. The bright color spread to her temples as she glided in.