Shall we add to this the terrific pride of youth—that she held it a certainty that no family equalled the Nikanders? To mate even with another Delphian was a downward step. This pride was in her stubborn answer.
“Father, I cannot—I cannot.”
“Nonsense,” smiled Nikander, “of course you will. He is a good man—Timon’s son.”
“Have I seen him?”
“Daughter! Of course you have not.”
She wrung her hands in sudden wildness.
“I won’t marry,” she cried. “I won’t go away from the house I love to one I have never known. I won’t belong to Theras whom I have never seen. I will only belong to you, you, you!”
“Theria, my dear child,” began Nikander.
But she was quite beside herself. She stamped the floor with her foot.