“He wants to marry you. Now, it seems to me that seven weeks is very short acquaintance for a decision like that. Are you sure you want him?”
“Yes, sir; I am.” Her answer was most decided.
His voice was slightly cynical as he went on. “But you were tolerably sure about that other fellow—that rancher with the fancy name—weren’t you?” She flushed at this, but waited for him to go on. “Don’t you think it possible that your fancy for Wayland is also temporary?”
“No, sir!” she bravely declared. “I never felt toward any one the way I do toward Wayland. He’s different. I shall never change toward him.”
Her tone, her expression of eyes stopped this line of inquiry. He took up another. “Now, my dear young lady, I am a business man as well as a father, and the marriage of my son is a weighty matter. He is my main dependence. I am hoping to have him take up and carry on my business. To be quite candid, I didn’t expect him to select his wife from a Colorado ranch. I considered him out of the danger-zone. I have always understood that women were scarce in the mountains. Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not one of those fools who are always trying to marry their sons and daughters into the ranks of the idle rich. I don’t care a hang about social position, and I’ve got money enough for my son and my son’s wife. But he’s all the boy I have, and I don’t want him to make a mistake.”
“Neither do I,” she answered, simply, her eyes suffused with tears. “If I thought he would be sorry—”
He interrupted again. “Oh, you can’t tell that now. Any marriage is a risk. I don’t say he’s making a mistake in selecting you. You may be just the woman he needs. Only I want to be consulted. I want to know more about you. He tells me you have taken an active part in the management of the ranch and the forest. Is that true?”
“I’ve always worked with my father—yes, sir.”
“You like that kind of life?”
“I don’t know much about any other kind. Yes, I like it. But I’ve had enough of it. I’m willing to change.”