"For her, or to her?" the old gentleman's eyes twinkled.
"He said 'to her,'" she insisted, blushing furiously.
"I really—that is, I said 'for her,'" the doctor smiled happily, as she gave him a rather bewildering look and precipitately fled.
They watched her go into the house and then turned to each other, one with an accusing smile, the other grinning self-consciously.
"You'll find her here when you return," the old gentleman murmured. "I shall never permit her to go back to those who are neither her blood nor breeding, and my home shall be her home until she chooses to leave it; but, sir," he began to smile again now, "my consent will have to be obtained—I warn you!"
The doctor, still crimson to the roots of his hair, was endeavoring to say something rational about his practice and his prospects, when the Colonel sternly interrupted him.
"Stone, all the worldly goods you may possess or ever expect to possess, if they were greater than these mountains behind us, would not amount to a damn, sir, unless your mind is clean and your body healthy! If you can say before your God that they are no worse than those of any man whom you would have your sister wed, go then and win your bride!"
A silence followed, so prolonged that the Colonel was beginning to feel the sickening weight of dread about his heart, when the other said quietly:
"Then I may as well ask you now!"
"God bless my soul, sir," the old gentleman cried, "I consent right merrily! Nor shall I keep you another minute from her, after we speak a word of Dale!"