"I must. It won't make any difference to my adoption."
He scowled. So repugnant to him was this subject that he judged it would be equally distasteful to Barbara.
"It was Fanny's idea," he said.
"I thought it would be."
"You didn't expect me to have paternal feelings for you, Barbara?"
"I didn't expect you to have any feelings at all."
The wound made him start. "My poor child, what a terrible thing for you to say."
"Why terrible?"
"Because it shows—it shows—And it isn't true. Do you suppose I don't know what's been going on inside you? I was blind to myself, my dear, but I saw through you."
"Saw through me?" She thought again of Ralph.