"Kathie darling, how can you ask such a question? Do you think my love for you could ever grow less?"
For a moment her head nestled against his breast with a little movement of ineffable content, as she replied,—
"No; it was not that I doubted your love, but I wanted an assurance of it to carry with me through the coming days."
Then, gently withdrawing herself from his embrace, she continued, in the same calm, even tones:
"You ask if there is no chance of escape; I can
see absolutely none; but I want you to understand, if I am forced into this marriage which papa has planned for me, that it is not through any weakness or cowardice on my part; that if I yield, it will be simply because of the love and reverence I bear my father."
Though her face was slightly averted, Darrell could see the tear-drops falling, but after a slight pause she proceeded as calmly as before:
"In all these years he has tried to be both father and mother to me, and even in this he thinks he is acting for my good. I have never disobeyed him, and were I to do so now I believe it would break his heart. I am all that he has left, and after what he has suffered in his silent, Spartan way, I must bring joy—not sorrow—to his declining years. And this will be my only reason for yielding."
"But, Kathie, dear child," Darrell interposed, "have you considered what such a life means to you—what is involved in such a sacrifice?"
She met his troubled gaze with a smile. "Yes, I know," she replied; "there is not a phase of this affair which I have not considered. I am years older than when we met three months ago, and I have thought of everything that a woman can think of."