"With all my heart. Only there is one thing I am very anxious about."
"What is that?"
"How your father will take my condition."
"He will allow, I think, that it is good enough for me—and more than I deserve."
"That is not what I mean; it is that I have a certain condition to make."
"Else you won't marry me? That seems strange! Of course I will do anything you would wish me to do! A condition!" she repeated, ponderingly, with just a little dissatisfaction in the tone.
Alister wondered she was not angry. But she trusted him too well to take offence readily.
"Yes," he rejoined, "a real condition! Terms belong naturally to the giver, not the petitioner; I hope with all my heart it will not offend him. It will not offend you, I think."
"Let me hear your condition," said Mercy, looking at him curiously, her honest eyes shining in the faint light.
"I want him to let me take you just as you are, without a shilling of his money to spoil the gift. I want you in and for yourself."