“Who gave you permission to pick my flowers?” 70 the old man snarled, taking no notice of her greeting. “I allow no one to rob my garden. You are not to take those flowers home with you—do you understand? They belong to me.”
The daughter did not reply. She walked across the room very slowly, and rang the bell, waiting until a maid appeared.
“Take these flowers to Mrs. Ripon, and tell her to have them arranged and brought to Mr. Herresford’s room. And now,” she added, as the girl closed the door behind her, “we must have a little talk, my dear father. I want some money—in brief, I must have some. Dick is going, and his kit must be got ready at once. I must have a thousand dollars.”
“Must, must, must! I don’t know the meaning of the word. You come here dunning me for money as though I were made of it. Do you know what you and your husband have cost me? I tell you I have no money for you, and I won’t be intruded upon in this way. Your visits are an annoyance, madam, and they’d better cease.”
“Yes, I know, I know. And I should not have come here to-day unless our need had been great. My dear father, you simply must come to my aid. We haven’t a hundred dollars, and Dick’s honor is pledged. He must go to the war, and he must 71 have the money to go with. If I could go to anybody else and borrow it, I would; but there is no one. If you will let me have a check for the amount, I will promise that you hear nothing more of me—as long as you like. Come, father, shall I write out a check? You played a jest with me the other day, and only gave me two dollars.”
Herresford lay with his eyes closed and his lips tightly pressed together. He hated these encounters with his daughter, for she generally succeeded in getting something out of him; but he was determined she should have nothing this morning. He took refuge in silence, his only effectual weapon so far as Mrs. Swinton was concerned.
“Well?” she queried, after waiting for some minutes, and turning from the window toward the bed. “Well?” she repeated. “If it’s going to be a waiting game, we can both play it. I sha’n’t leave this room until you sign Dick’s check, and you know quite well that I go through with a thing when my mind is made up. It’s perfectly disgusting to have to insist like this, but you see, father, it’s the only way.”
She had spoken very quickly, yet very deliberately. She walked over to a table which stood in one of the windows, carefully selected a volume, and, drawing a chair to the side of her father’s bed, sat down. 72
Herresford had watched her from under his screwed-up eyelids, and, as she commenced to read, he sighed irritably.
“If you’ll come back this evening,” he whined, after a long pause, “I’ll see what I can do. I’m expecting Notley, my lawyer, this morning, and I don’t want to be worried. I’ve a lot of figures to go through. Now, run away, Mary, and I’ll think it over.”