"Oh, papa!—I am so happy!—so miserable!"
The doctor stared in astonishment and in some vague alarm. Hardly aware of how much energy he used, he detached her from him and held her out at arm's length, looking anxiously at her for an explanation.
"Oh, don't push me away," begged Lillie, and struggled back to him, trying to hide her face against his breast.
A suspicion of the truth fell across the Doctor, but he strove to fling it from him as one dashes off a disagreeable reptile. Still, he looked quite nervous and apprehensive as he said, "What is it, my child?"
"Mr. Carter will tell you," she whispered; then, before he could speak, "Do love him for my sake."
He pushed her sobbing into a chair, and turned his back on her with a groan.
"Oh!—That man!—I can't—I won't."
He walked several times rapidly up and down the room, and then broke out again.
"I can not consent. I will not consent. It is not my duty. Oh, Lillie! how could you choose the very man of all that—! I tell you this must not be. It must stop here. I have no confidence in him. He will not make you happy. He will make you miserable. I tell you that you will regret the day that you marry him to the last moment of your life. My child," (persuasively) "you must believe me. You must trust my judgment. Will you not be persuaded? Will you not stop where you are?"