“Just darning,” Cecilia told him.
He sat looking at her for a while—at the pretty face and the well-tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull brain?
“You look a bit pale,” he said at last. “Do you go out enough?”
“Oh, yes, I think so,” Cecilia answered in astonishment. Not in two years had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her to a sudden resolve. She had never been quite satisfied to leave him without a word; whatever he was, he was still her father. She put her darning on her knee, and looked at him gravely.
“You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?”
“Yes—he told me so,” Mark Rainham answered.
“And you know he wants to take me away?”
Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.
“Oh, yes—but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid. You're under age, and your stepmother won't hear of it.” He poked the fire savagely.
“But if Bob could make a home for me! We have always been together, you know, Papa.”