"Extreme intimacy, Papa!" said Clara, in a tone of dismay, and colouring deeply in the twilight.
"Yes; you understand me, I presume?"
"I have known him since the day he sent up his card, and renewed the intimacy that began at Bermuda."
"That was but a casual, but very important episode; but what passed then, under the circumstances, temporarily, when you were but a child, cannot be continued or tolerated now. He is but a merchant seaman!"
"A mate, Papa, and a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserve."
"Pshaw!"
"And heir to a large estate."
"That is doubtful, Clara; his brother is the heir. I know there is much common sense in that little head of yours, and I wish you to bring it to bear upon the present question. This intimacy is unseemly. Good heaven! what would society say of it?"
"Society! how I do hate that word, Papa!"
"Indeed! You are young and inexperienced, and it is for me to consider that which may become insolence on his part, and folly on yours."