"But, oh, father, I was so young! How could I know what an awful thing I was doing?"
"If it was a mistake, who but ourselves should suffer for it, Ruth?"
"But he went astray—his company was of the worst."
"That is all changed and atoned for."
The girl shook her head.
"Oh, father, he was never a good son."
"That, too, is changed; no man was ever more proud of a son than neighbor Storms is now of this young man."
The girl turned away and began to cry.
"I thought you had given this up—that I should never again be tormented with it! He seemed willing to leave me alone; but now only three weeks after my godmother has promised to give me her money he comes back again! Oh, I wish she had promised it to some one else!"
"That is the very reason why we should fulfil our obligations to the letter, Ruth. It must not be said that a child of mine drew back from her father's plighted word because her dower promised to be more than double anything he had counted on when it was given."