The sob, the passion of pain in her voice, smote and hurt him sorely, but he did not falter an instant.
"In breaking your will, your heart may be healed."
He had not looked at her, and all the while the index finger of his right hand moved up and down columns of figures, searching for some item, which was finally found and marked. Leaning against the door, she watched him until Aaron rang the dinner bell.
"Father, may I drive you to the station?"
"No."
"Then I prefer to say good-bye here, as I am going to my own room."
"As you please. Good-bye, Eglah."
"I wish I could share this trouble, whatever it may be that calls you away; but since you elect to condemn me to the torture of suspense, I have no alternative but to endure it as best I can. Good-bye, my dear father."
She held out both hands, but, instead of approaching her, he opened a glass door leading to the colonnade and disappeared.
The velvet, paternal touch caressing her tenderly from the days of her babyhood had, during the last two years, stiffened, hardened into a steel gauntlet, strangling her.