“Oh, but you,” she said—“you have everything to make you happy!”
“Have I?”
“To be sure.”
He longed to tell her then that there was one thing he did not possess—one thing that would make him happier than all else. The words rose to his lips. Had he spoken them a direct proposal must have followed. At that moment, however, one of the guests of the house looked into the parlor, which was sufficient to deter him for the time.
Somehow, this repression of his feelings simply seemed to make them more intense, as is usually the case with every one. Now that he feared to speak out, he longed to do so most intensely. He inquired for Mr. Burrage.
“I am truly worried about him,” Inza declared. “These spells of illness are becoming more frequent, and he feels that he may not live long. That is why he was seized by a sudden desire to see Fardale again.”
“Perhaps it will do him good to visit your old home. I hope so.”
“I hope so, too, Frank. If father should die——”
She stopped with such an expression of pain on her face that all the sympathy and pity of his nature stirred.
“Don’t worry, Inza; that will not happen for many years to come.”