“So young! Why, you ought to be in school, instead of at work.”
She made no reply. He watched her awhile, as she sat before him with bent head, and then continued, in the kindly tone he so often used when addressing her:
“Miss Kane—Orissa—I will give your brother all the money he needs, and he may retain the entire interest in his airship. The payment may come from you alone.”
She started and became alert at once, raising her head to look at him inquiringly.
“In other words,” he added, “I’m not especially interested in your brother or his invention; but I am greatly interested in you.”
“Mr. Burthon, I—”
“Listen to me, Orissa, and let me explain. I’m a lonely man, for I have never married—or cared to. You are the only member of the fair sex who has ever attracted me except my sister, whom I regarded with warm affection. When she married that scoundrel Cumberford we became separated forever, and in a few years she died. Since then I have thought of nothing but business. I am now thirty-eight years of age, and in my prime. I have amassed a fortune—something more than a quarter of a million, as you know—and have no one to leave it to when I pass away. I should like to leave it to you, Orissa.”
“To me, sir!” she exclaimed, amazed.
“Yes. Your presence here in the office has transformed the place from a barren den to a cozy, homelike apartment. I like to see your sweet face near me, gravely bending over your work. Your personality has charmed me; your lack of affectation, your sincerity and honesty, have won my admiration. I cannot say to you, as a younger man would, that I love you, for I will not take an unfair advantage of one who is as yet a child. But you will become a woman soon, and I want to make you a splendid woman—and a happy one. This is my proposition: place yourself in my hands unreservedly, and let me direct your future. I will send you to a famous finishing school in the East and supply you with a liberal allowance. In two years you will return to me, old enough to become my wife.”
“Oh, Mr. Burthon!”