The girl's eyes flashed and her lips curved.
"If it has made him more eager, I may well consider it," she said; "and I think it has."
"Shame on you, daughter! Such suspicions are unbecoming!"
"I cannot help them, father; the very thought of this man is hateful to me."
"Well, well," said the father, soothingly, but not the less firm in his purpose; "the young man must plead his own cause. I have no fear that he will find my child unreasonable."
The harassed young creature grew desperate; she followed her father to the door of an inner room.
"Father, come back, come back! It is cruel to put me off so!"
Ruth drew her father into the room again, and renewed her protest with the passionate entreaties that had been so ineffectual. In her desperation she spoke with unusual energy, while now and then her sentences were broken up with sobs.
"Oh, father, do not insist—do not force this marriage upon me! It will be my death, my destruction! I detest the man!"
Jessup turned away from her. That sweet appealing face made his heart ache.