"Only in my father's presence. I would not see him alone."
"And after seeing him, you repent?"
"No—no—a thousand times no. It is only of my father I think. I am all that he has in the world!" cried the girl, in a passion of distress.
"Have I not considered this? Do I ask you to leave him at once? One would think that I intended some great wrong; that, instead of taking—"
"Hush, hush, Mr. Walton! Do not remind me how far I am beneath you. This is the great barrier which I tremble to pass. My father never will forgive me if I dare to—"
"Become the wife of an honorable man, who loves you well enough to force him into saving his child from a hateful marriage, at the price of deceiving his own father."
"Oh, no! no! It is because you are so generous, so ready to stake everything for me, that I hesitate."
"No, it is because you fear the displeasure of a man who has almost separated us in his stubborn idea of honor. It is to his pride that my own must be sacrificed."
"Pride, Walton?"
"Yes, for he is proud enough to break up my life and yours."