Elizabeth looked at him in disappointed amazement.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"I assure you it is enough. You will not believe it now——"
"But fall in love?" said the girl again. "With a man? Just with a common man?"
"Yes, just with a common man," said he. "At least, it is quite certain that the immense majority of mankind will call him a common man. You will find that he makes everything beautiful."
"But I know how beautiful it all is already," said she.
"Yes, and it all puzzles you. You don't know what it means. Well, it means what I have told you—love."
"Oh, daddy, is that all?" said the girl again.
"In a way, it is. I mean that you can't go beyond that. But——"
Again he paused, feeling a sudden shyness, even with his own daughter, in speaking of anything that concerned him so intimately.