“No, sir; only to take another son as a partner in the concern when you think the right time has come,” she answered, smiling up into his face.
At that he gave her a smiling caress.
“So I will when I think that time has come,” he said, “but till then I hope you can be happy in my home, under my care, and loved and petted as one of my own God-given children.”
“I am sure I can, papa, and I shall never, never be willing to go too far away to see and talk with you every day.”
“That is pleasant for me to hear,” he said, “and I hope to keep you in this home with me even after you exchange my name for another; and if you and Harold grow tired of that I think I can find room on this estate for another dwelling, not inferior to Sunnyside, put it up and furnish it for my second daughter, who is not to be treated with any less favor than her elder sister and brother.”
“Oh, papa, how good, good you are to me!” she exclaimed low and feelingly. “I am so glad and thankful that I was born your child. But I should love to be that even if you were poor and couldn’t do anything for me.”
“I believe you would, my darling,” he returned. “But now bid me good-night and go; for it is time you were resting, after all the excitement and fatigues of the day.”
“Yes, papa, dear, dear papa,” she said, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him with ardent affection, “you are so kind to me, and, oh, how I do love you! I wouldn’t marry even Harold, whom I dearly love, if I knew that he would take me far away from you.”
“Nor could I be willing to give you to him if that was to be the result. But there seems little or no danger of that, as his home and near connections are in this neighborhood and he seems to have no desire to leave it. My greatest objection to the match is the mixture of relationships it will bring about. You, my own daughter, will be my sister-in-law, and Harold son-in-law to his sister. Still, as there is no blood relationship between you two, and you seem so devotedly attached to each other, I have not felt that I had any right to forbid the match.”
“Yes, papa, and you were very, very kind not to do so; for dearly as I love Harold, I would never marry him without your consent.”